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A  STORY  or  MODERN  FARMING 


JOHN  THOMAS  SIMPSON 


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Southern  Branch 
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University  of  California 

Los  Angeles 

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II 


HIDDEN  TREASURE 

FOURTH  IMPRESSION 


The  American  Trail  Blazers 

"THE  STORY  GRIPS  AND  THE  HISTORY  STICKS" 


These  books  present  in  the  form  of  vivid  and  fascinating 
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LOST  WITH  LIEUTENANT  PIKE 

GENERAL  CROOK  AND  THE  FIGHTING 
APACHES 

OPENING  THE  WEST  WITH  LEWIS  AND 
CLARK 

WITH  CARSON  AND  FREMONT 

DANIEL  BOONE:    BACKWOODSMAN 

BUFFALO  BILL  AND  THE  OVERLAND 
TRAIL 

CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH 

DAVID  CROCKETT:    SCOUT 

ON  THE  PLAINS  WITH  CUSTER 

GOLD  SEEKERS  OF  '49 

WITH  SAM  HOUSTON  IN  TEXAS 


THE  AFTERNOON  WAS  SPENT  IN  EXAMINING  THE  BUILDINGS  AND  LOOKING 
OVER  THE  PLANS  FOR  THE  NEW  BARN 

Page  Z60 


HIDDEN  TREASURE 

THE    STORY  OF  A  CHORE  BOY 
WHO  MADE  THE  OLD  FARM  PAY 


BY 


JOHN  THOMAS  SIMPSON 


COLORED  FRONTISPIECE  BY  E.  H.  SUYDAM 
AND  j6  illustrations 


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PHILADELPHIA  &  LONDON 
J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,   I919.   BT  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANT 


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PRINTED   BY  J.   B.    LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 

AT  THE  WASHINGTON  SQUARE  PRESS 

PHILADELPHIA,  U.  S.  A. 


C 


PREFACE 

A  FEW  years  ago  the  author  visited  the  farm  in 
Western  Pennsylvania  on  which  he  had  lived  for  a 
number  of  years  when  a  boy.  Much  to  his  surprise 
there  was  not  a  boy  of  his  acquaintance  still  on  the 
neighboring  farms,  many  of  which  had  passed  into 
other  hands,  and  in  some  cases  even  the  names  of  the 
original  owners  had  been  forgotten. 

He  bumped  over  the  two  short  miles  of  road,  still 
deep  with  mud,  between  the  town  and  the  farm,  and 
could  scarcely  recognize  in  the  weedy  fields  before 
him,  with  their  broken-down  fences  partly  concealed 
by  undergrowth,  the  fertile  acres  of  his  boyhood. 

The  orchard,  once  kept  so  neatly  pruned,  was  now 
filled  with  trees  that  were  gnarled  and  broken — while 
the  rich  bottom  land,  so  productive  in  years  past,  was 
foul  with  all  manner  of  rank  growth.  The  lane  lead- 
ing up  to  the  house  from  the  main  road  was  in  such 
bad  repair  that  he  had  to  leave  his  automobile  on  the 
main  road  and  complete  his  journey  on  foot. 

Investigation  showed  that  many  of  the  farms  in 
the  neighborhood  were  in  a  similar  rundown  condi- 
tion; that  farm  work  was  generally  considered  unprof- 
itable or  uncongenial;  and  that  the  boys  and  girls  bom 
in  the  country  usually  took  the  first  opportunity  to 

5 


6  PREFACE 

leave  the  farms,  often  for  harder  and  less  profitable 
work  in  the  cities. 

In  the  hope  that  many  boys  and  girls  now  living  on 
farms,  as  well  as  others,  who,  if  they  knew  of  the 
advantages  of  labor-saving  machinery  and  modem 
farm  buildings  (to  say  nothing  of  the  interest  of  out- 
door work),  would  take  up  this,  the  most  profitable 
and  independent  of  all  occupations — FARMING — this 
story  of  Hidden  Treasure  is  written. 

The  Author 

February,  1919 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

The  author  begs  to  acknowledge  his  indebtedness  for 
valuable  information  to: 

A.  A.  Drew,  Superintendent  of  Agencies,  of  the  Mutual 
Benefit  Life  Insurance  Company,  Newark,  New  Jersey,  for 
Constructive  Banking  and  Life  Insurance. 

Bucyrus  Company,  South  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin,  for 
Trenching  with  Steam  Shovels. 

Waterloo  Cement  Machinery  Company,  Waterloo,  Iowa,  for 
Concrete  Mixing  Machines. 

Hercules  Powder  Company,  Hazleton,  Pennsylvania,  for 
Progressive  Cultivation  and  Trench  Digging  by  Dynamite. 

International  Harvester  Company  of  America,  Chicago, 
Illinois,  for  Tractors  and  Farm  Machinery. 

George  M.  Wright,  owner  of  Indian  Hill  Farm.  Worcester, 
Massachusetts,  for  Holstein  Cattle,  Dairy  Methods  and  Poul- 
try Raising. 

John  W.  Odlin,  Publicity  Department,  Wright  Wire  Com- 
pany, Worcester,  Massachusetts,  Wire  Fencing. 

C.  P.  Dadant,  Editor  American  Bee  Journal,  Hamilton,  Illi- 
nois, Bee  Culture. 

The  Sharpies  Separator  Company,  West  Chester,  Penn- 
sylvania, for  Milking  Machines  and  Cream  Separators. 

D.  &  A.  Post  Mold  Company,  Three  Rivers,  Michigan, 
for  Concrete  Fence  Posts. 

A.  A.  Simpson,  Indiana,  Pennsylvania,  for  much  data 
regarding  crop  production  and  market  values  in  that  vicinity. 

The  Domestic  Engineering  Company,  Dayton,  Ohio,  for 
Electric  Light  and  Power  for  Farms. 

The  Portland  Cement  Association,  Chicago,  Illinois,  for 
Concrete  Buildings  and  Road  Construction. 

United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  Washington, 
D.  C,  for  Farmery  Bulletins  covering  the  great  range  of  sub- 
jects  referred   to  throughout   the   story. 

The  Country  Gentleman,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  for  much  helpful 
data  on  general  farming  and  stock  raising. 

K.  C.  Davis,  Knapp  School  of  Country  Life,  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  for  a  final  reading  of  the  proof  sheets. 

7 


a-^>^ 


CONTENTS 

Chapter  Page 

I.  The  Old  Homestead 13 

II,  A  Day's  Work 23 

III.  A  Rainy  Day 31 

IV.  Draining  the  Pond 43 

V.  Selling  Turtles 53 

VI.  Selling  Sand 60 

VII.  The  New  Aunt 75 

VIII.  The  Sale 84 

IX.  Power  and  Banking 99 

X.  Running  Water 113 

XI.  Tony 128 

XII.  The  Dairy  House 146 

XIII.  Visitors 159 

XIV.  Ruth  and  the  Straw  Stack 172 

XV.  New  Methods 181 

XVI.  Ruth  and  Jerry 194 

XVII.  Filling  the  Incubator 204 

XVIII.  The  New  Implements 212 

XIX.  The  Storm 225 

XX.  Good  Roads 234 

XXI.  Filling  the  Silo 251 

XXII.  The  Fair 263 

XXIII.  Christmas  at  Brookside  Farm 276 

XX IV.  Cost  Accounting 286 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

The  Afternoon  was  Spent  Examining  the  Buildings  and  Looking 
Over  the  Plans  for  the  New  Bam Frontispiece 

The  Old  Homestead l6 

"Well,  Son,  Let's  Get  Down  to  Business.    I  See  You're  Wise 

All  Right  to  the  Value  of  that  Pit" 70 

Bees  are  a  Profitable  Side  Line 88 

The  Tractor  Will  do  the  Work  of  Five  Men  and  Five  Teams. . .  102 

Ditch  Digging  by  Dynamite 132 

One-Half  the  Herd 140 

The  Electric  Milker 152 

Comfortable  Sanitary  Stalls 152 

Small,  Self -Loading,  Kerosene  Driven,  Concrete  Mixers 160 

Every  Boy  that  Ran  Away  from  the  Farm  and  Many  that  are 
Still  There  can  Tell  of  the  Days  Wasted  on  Repairs  to 
Wooden  Fences  and  Cleaning  Out  Fence  Rows 172 

Extra  Profits  are  not  the  Only  Things  a  Farmer  Gets  from  a  Herd 

of  Well  Bred  Dairy  Cows 188 

Good  Seed  Well  Planted  Lays  the  Foundation  for  a  Profitable 

Crop 194 

A  Well-Managed  Flock  of  Poultry  Will  Return  Good  Profits . .  208 

The  Side  Delivery  Rake  Fluffs  up  the  Hay  and  Lets  the  Sun 
do  Its  Work  Quickly 230 

The  Self-Loader  Makes  Possible  the  Quick  Storage  of  Properly 

Cured  Hay  and  Saves  Tons  of  Man-Lifting  Power 230 

The  Electric-Driven  Laundry 236 

Well-Built  Concrete  Roads  Bring  the  Markets  and  Your  Neigh- 
bors Nearer 242 

Transferring  the  Green  Corn  Crop  from  Field  to  Silo 252 

11 


HIDDEN  TREASURE 

I 

THE   OLD   HOMESTEAD 

The  late  afternoon  sun  shone  full  upon  a  boy  who 
was  perched  on  the  top  of  an  old  rail  fence  forming 
the  dividing  line  between  the  farm  that  spread  out 
before  him  and  the  one  over  which  he  had  just  passed. 

It  was  early  March,  The  keen  wind  as  it  whirled 
past  him,  whipping  the  branches  of  the  tree  together 
and  carrying  away  clouds  of  dried  leaves  from  behind 
the  fence  rows,  penetrated  the  thin  clothes  he  wore — 
but  instead  of  making  him  shiver,  it  seemed  only  to 
add  to  his  pleasure,  for  he  removed  his  cap  and  ran 
his  fingers  through  his  damp  hair. 

The  boy  was  slender  and  scarcely  looked  the 
eighteen  years  to  which  he  laid  claim.  He  had  curly 
sandy  hair,  a  freckled  face  and  penetrating  blue  eyes. 
His  clothes  were  new,  but  of  rather  poor  material  and 
ill-fitting,  scarcely  protecting  him  from  the  cutting 
wind.  Because  of  his  short  legs  and  arms,  his  coat 
sleeves  and  trousers,  cut  for  the  average  boy,  were  too 
long  for  him  and  were  much  wrinkled. 

He  had  climbed  the  last  and  steepest  hill  lying 
between  the  town  and  his   grandfather's   farm — the 

13 


14  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

ancestral  home  of  the  WilHams  family,  which  was  now, 
for  a  time  at  least,  to  be  his  home.  Since  early- 
morning  he  had  bumped  over  the  rough  frozen  roads 
between  his  home  in  a  distant  village  and  the  county 
seat,  which  was  situated  some  two  miles  to  the  west,  and 
from  which  he  had  just  walked. 

•He  had  expected  to  find  his  grandfather  or  his 
Uncle  Joe  waiting  for  him ;  in  this  he  was  disappointed, 
and  as  the  sun  was  getting  along  toward  mid-after- 
noon, he  had  picked  up  his  worn  suitcase  and  set  off 
through  the  town  by  a  route  that  he  knew  would  bring 
him  to  a  short-cut  over  the  hills. 

Despite  the  wind,  he  sat  for  some  minutes,  cap  in 
hand,  while  he  looked  out  over  the  familiar  scenes. 
There  was  not  one  foot  of  ground  in  the  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acre  farm  that  spread  out  fan-shape  before 
him  which  was  not  familiar.  Here  he  had  spent  many 
happy  vacations  in  summers  past.  The  last  two  years 
he  had  attended  the  State  College,  taking  the  course  in 
agriculture,  and  had  worked  in  a  grocery  store  in  the 
village  during  the  summer  vacations,  but  this  work 
had  been  distasteful  to  him — he  missed  the  freedom  of 
outdoor  life,  especially  the  birds  and  animals  so  plenti- 
ful on  the  farm.  So  this  year,  as  his  father  could  not 
afford  to  have  him  complete  the  course,  he  had  asked 
permission  to  go  on  a  farm.  His  two  years  in  the  State 
College  had  opened  his  eyes  to  modern  methods  of 
farming  and  the  use  of  Portland  cement  for  farm  build- 
ings, and  he  wanted  a  chance  to  try  them  out. 


THE  OLD  HOMESTEAD  15 

His  father  had  hesitated  at  first  in  giving  his  con- 
sent, not  because  he  did  not  wish  him  to  be  in  the  open 
country,  but  because  he  felt,  now  that  he  had  reached 
the  age  of  eighteen,  he  should  be  able  to  earn  money 
and  direct  his  attention  toward  permanent  employ- 
ment, and  he  could  not  think  of  farming  as  a  business 
with  so  many  other  opportunities  at  hand.  A  letter 
from  his  Uncle  Joe,  saying  that  he  had  purchased  the 
old  farm,  and  would  like  to  have  Bob  help  him  with  the 
work  on  his  newly  acquired  property,  had  settled  the 
matter,  and,  as  his  uncle  was  anxious  to  make  an  early 
start,  he  had  left  home  at  once. 

He  could  not  help  noticing,  as  he  gazed  at  the  pan- 
orama before  him,  the  dilapidated  appearance  of  the 
buildings  and  tumbled-down  fences  half  hidden  by  rank 
growths  that  confronted  him  on  every  side,  but  this, 
for  the  moment,  was  of  passing  interest. 

Across  the  valley  to  the  east,  in  the  twenty-five 
acres  of  woods,  he  had  once  found  the  nest  of  a  great 
white  owl,  and  there  on  "  Old  Round  Top,"  as  the  steep 
hill  directly  opposite  him  was  called,  they  had  over- 
turned a  wagon-load  of  hay  one  summer  with  him  on 
top.  He  even  rememl^ered  the  thrill  he  had  received  as 
he  went  flying  through  the  air,  and  how  they  had  all 
laughed  when  he  landed  unhurt  on  a  hay  cock  some 
distance  down  the  hill,  just  clear  of  the  overturned 
wagon.  Then  in  the  valley,  at  the  foot  of  the  hill, 
stood  the  old  cider  mill  where  neighbors  for  miles 
around  would  bring  their  apples  in  the  late  summer  for 


16  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

cider-making.  Here,  straw,  in  mouth,  he  and  the 
neighbors'  boys  lay  prone  on  their  stomachs  on  the 
great  beams  and  sucked  their  fill  of  the  freshly  squeezed 
cider  as  it  flowed  down  the  smooth  grooves  in  the  planks 
to  the  waiting  barrels  below. 

Beyond  the  cider  mill  was  the  old  orchard,  with  its 
Rainbow  and  Sheep-nose  apple  trees;  then  the  garden 
in  one  corner  of  which  grew  black  currants  and  yellow 
raspberry  bushes ;  and  near  by  the  low  red  brick  smoke- 
house, from  which  many  a  piece  of  dried  beef  had 
been  slyly  removed  to  stay  his  hunger  between  meals. 

Just  beyond  was  the  white  farmhouse,  nestling 
among  the  apple  trees,  the  front  to  the  west  and  facing 
on  the  lane  that  led  up  to  a  farm  above.  The  house 
had  a  one-story  ell  on  the  end  toward  him,  containing 
the  kitchen  and  pantry — this  ell  projected  back  almost 
to  the  smokehouse.  On  the  opposite  side,  but  hidden 
from  his  view,  there  was  a  wide  porch  running  the  full 
length  of  house  and  ell,  and  in  the  angle  formed  by  the 
porch,  stood  the  well  with  its  home-made  pump. 

The  water  from  this  well,  he  recalled,  had  a  peculiar 
mineral  taste,  with  a  strong  flavor  of  sulphur — a  taste 
he  did  not  like.  He  had  never  been  so  tired  that  he 
would  not  go  to  the  spring  up  on  the  side  of  "  Old 
Round  Top  "  for  a  pail  of  water,  rather  than  drink 
from  this  well.  Back  of  the  house,  but  within  the 
enclosure  formed  by  the  picket  fence,  was  the  wood 
and  tool  shed — ^while  just  beyond  stood  the  old-fash- 
ioned bank  barn  and  other  farm  buildings.    There  was 


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THE  OLD  HOMESTEAD  17 

a  short  steep  hill  just  beyond  the  barn,  down  which  the 
lane  wound  to  a  mill  pond  below.  An  old  sawmill  with 
an  undershot  water-wheel  stood  at  the  extreme  south- 
east corner  of  the  farm,  diagonally  opposite. 

Of  all  the  places  on  which  his  gaze  rested,  this 
mill  and  pond  held  the  most  treasured  recollections. 
It  was  in  this  pond  ten  years  ago  his  father  had  taught 
him  to  swim.  Here,  too,  the  neighboring  farmers 
brought  their  sheep  each  spring  to  be  washed — always 
a  holiday  and  frolic  for  the  boys. 

Like  many  other  fanns  in  this  section  of  Western 
Pennsylvania,  the  buildings  were  set  so  that  the  barn 
stood  between  the  house  and  the  main  road,  making 
the  approach  to  the  house  past  the  bam  and  through 
the  barnyard.  For  the  first  time,  this  awkward  ar- 
rangement was  apparent  to  him ;  he  wondered  why  the 
buildings  had  been  thus  located,  and  facing  northwest. 

He  replaced  his  cap,  swung  his  suitcase  over 
the  fence,  jumped  down  to  the  frozen  ground  and  set 
off  down  the  hill.  As  he  trudged  along,  picking  his 
way  over  the  rough  ground,  the  parting  words  of  his 
father  came  to  him:  "  Make  yourself  useful.  Bob,  and 
your  Uncle  Joe,  I'm  sure,  will  pay  you  all  you're  worth, 
and  while  I'd  rather  have  you  become  a  merchant,  still 
if  you  find  you  like  the  farm,  you  may  stay  with  your 
Uncle  Joe."  It  was  not  so  much  the  prospect  of  mak- 
ing money  as  the  chance  of  being  in  the  open  air  among 
the  things  that  he  loved  that  caused  him  to  whistle  a 
lively  tune  as  he  crossed  the  fields  toward  the  house. 

2 


18  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

The  one  over  which  he  was  now  passing,  he 
observed,  had  been  planted  in  winter  wheat,  and  that 
just  beyond,  at  the  edge  of  the  meadow,  was  the  young 
orchard  well  grown  and  badly  in  need  of  pruning. 
The  route  he  had  taken  soon  brought  him  out  into  the 
lane  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  near  the  cider  mill,  where 
he  stopped  to  drink  of  the  cool  sap  that  flowed  into  a 
large  tin  pail,  from  one  of  the  sugar-maple  trees  under 
whose  branches  the  mill  stood.  How  good  it  tasted  to 
the  thirsty  boy,  as  he  drank  slowly  from  a  long-handled 
dipper  that  someone  had  conveniently  left  hanging  on 
the  tree.  When  he  had  quenched  his  thirst,  he  picked 
up  his  suitcase  again,  resting  it  on  one  shoulder,  and 
continued  up  the  lane  to  the  house. 

"  Hello,  grandma!  "  he  shouted,  as  he  dropped  his 
luggage  on  the  porch  and  hurried  forward  to  meet  her 
as  she  emerged  from  the  kitchen  door,  a  steaming  ket- 
tle of  vegetables  in  her  hand, 

"Why,  Bob,  where'd  you  come  from?"  she 
exclaimed,  setting  the  kettle  down  and  kissing  him. 

**  I  looked  for  grandfather  and  Uncle  Joe  when  I 
got  off  the  bus  in  town,  but  I'  couldn't  see  them  any- 
where, so  I  walked  out,"  he  replied. 

"  Why,  I'm  sure  they  expected  to  meet  you.  Bob," 
she  replied,  "  but  the  roads  are  so  rough,  I  supf>ose  they 
were  late.  They  took  some  grain  to  the  mill  and  would 
have  to  wait  for  it  to  be  ground,  and  they  may  have 
been  delayed  there — but  you  haven't  told  me  yet  how 
all  the  folks  are." 


THE  OLD  HOMESTEAD  19 

"  Oh,  they're  all  pretty  well,"  he  replied;  "  but  tell 
me,  when  is  Uncle  Joe  to  be  married  ?  " 

"  Some  time  in  April,  I  believe,"  she  replied.  "  Db 
you  know  you're  to  be  his  chore  boy  this  summer?  " 

"  Yes,  father  told  me — it  will  be  lots  of  fun.  Just 
think — no  more  working  all  cooped  up  in  a  store  like 
the  last  two  summers,"  he  replied  enthusiastically. 

*'  But  it  won't  be  all  fun,  you  know.  Bob.  Your 
Uncle  Joe  has  bought  the  farm,  although  it's  not  all 
paid  for  yet,  and  I  imagine  he'll  keep  you  pretty  busy 
— if  I  know  Joe,"  she  added. 

"  Let  me  get  you  some  water,  grandma,"  he  said  a 
moment  later,  seeing  her  pick  up  the  tin  water-pail; 
"  I'll  start  right  in  now  and  get  my  hand  in,"  he 
laughed. 

"  You  always  were  a  hustler.  Bob,  even  if  you 
don't  grow  very  fast,"  she  said,  looking  at  his  over- 
large  clothes,  as  he  left  the  kitchen. 

"  I  hope  your  Uncle  Joe  will  remember  that  you're 
not  grown  and  can't  do  a  man's  work,  even  if  you're 
willing  to  try,"  she  said  on  his  return,  as  she  watched 
him  set  the  pail  of  water  on  the  kitchen  table. 

*'  Why,  I'm  eighteen  now,  grandma,  and  weigh 
one  hundred  and  ten  pounds,"  he  answered  stoutly. 

*'  Well,  this  is  a  big  farm.  Bob,  and  it's  gotten 
pretty  well  run  down  in  the  last  few  years  with  your 
Uncle  Joe  out  West  and  your  grandfather  feeling  too 
poorly  to  do  much  more  than  look  after  the  crops," 
she  said. 


20  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  Are  there  big  fortunes  to  be  found  in  the  West, 
grandma?  "  he  asked  a  moment  later. 

"  No  bigger  than  right  here,  Bob,"  she  repHed. 
"  It's  only  a  matter  of  work,  and  I'm  beginning  to 
believe  that  after  all  it  is  as  much  a  matter  of  managing 
properly  as  working  hard.  Do  you  know  that  your 
grandfather  and  I  are  going  to  move  to  town  as  soon 
as  your  Uncle  Joe  gets  married?  " 

"  Why,  no,  I  didn't — who'll  look  after  things  here 
when  you  go  away?  "  asked  Bob. 

**  Oh,  your  new  aunt  will  see  to  that,"  she  replied. 
"  I  hope  you'll  like  her,  Bob." 

"Who  is  she  and  what  does  she  look  like?"  he 
inquired  with  boyish  eagerness. 

"  She  used  to  be  a  school  teacher  and  lived  with  us 
while  she  taught  our  school,"  she  replied;  "  that's  how 
your  Uncle  Joe  met  her.  She  has  plenty  of  good 
looks — too  many,  I  sometimes  think,  for  a  farmer's 
wife — and  she  is  a  real  New  England  Yankee  woman, 
who  doesn't  know  how  to  milk  cows." 

"  How  could  any  one  be  too  good-looking  to  be  a 
farmer's  wife,  grandma?"  laughed  Bob.  "Why 
should  good  looks  keep  her  from  being  successful?  " 

"  Well,  you  see.  Bob,  nice  white  hands  are  generally 
spoiled  by  rough  work,"  said  the  old  lady. 

"  But  why  will  she  have  to  do  the  rough  work 
when  she  comes  here?  "  persisted  Bob. 

"  Oh,  I  guess  she  won't  have  any  to  do — ^at  least, 
that's  what  your  Uncle  Joe  says,"  replied  his  grand- 


THE  OLD  HOMESTEAD  21 

mother  with  a  haughty  toss  of  her  head.  "  That's 
what  he's  got  you  down  on  the  farm  for." 

"  Oh,"  said  Bob,  dryly,  "  and  so  that's  why  he  was 
so  extremely  anxious  for  me  to  come." 

"  Yes,  that's  why.  Bob — you  might  as  well  know 
sooner  as  later,  that  you're  going  to  be  a  pretty  busy 
boy  this  summer.  Your  Uncle  Joe  is  so  big  and  strong 
that  he  never  gets  tired  and  doesn't  know  when  to  quit, 
and  he  expects  every  one  else  to  work  just  as  hard 
and  as  long  as  he  does.  Besides,"  she  added,  "  I  don't 
think  he'll  want  his  wife  to  spoil  her  nice  white  hands." 

"  What's  her  name?  "  inquired  Bob,  not  in  the  least 
worried  by  his  grandmother's  gloomy  predictions. 

"  Betsy  Atwood — but  your  uncle  calls  her  Bettie," 
replied  his  grandmother. 

"  Aunt  Bettie,"  repeated  Bob.    "  A  pretty  name!  " 

"  H'm!  "  sniffed  his  grandmother.  "  I'm  certainly 
glad  you  like  it,  and  I  hope  you'll  like  her  as  well — it 
will  help  to  make  the  work  seem  easier  to  you." 

"  Why,  there's  grandfather  and  Uncle  Joe  now," 
said  Bob  a  moment  later,  as  he  glanced  through  the 
kitchen  window  toward  the  barn,  and  catching  up  his 
cap  he  rushed  out  to  greet  them. 

Joe  Williams  was  a  tj^ical  farmer,  tail,  deep- 
chested  and  straight  as  an  arrow.  He  stood  six  feet 
in  his  stockings  and  weighed  two  hundred  and  ten 
pounds,  and  could  toss  a  barrel  of  salt  on  the  tailboard 
of  a  wagon  without  losing  his  happy  smile.  He  was 
twenty-seven  years  old,  and  there  was  not  a  farmer 


22  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

in  the  county  who  could  beat  him  at  feats  of  strength 
or  endurance,  and  few  indeed  who  could  keep  pace 
with  him.  He  had  black  hair  and  blue  eyes.  Books 
had  little  attraction  for  him — ^he  loved  to  be  in  the 
open,  for  which  his  great  size  and  strength  seemed  to 
fit  him.  He  had  received  little  education  beyond  the 
country  school,  unless  could  be  counted  the  two  years 
he  had  spent  working  on  farms  in  the  great  West,  where 
he  probably  would  have  stayed  had  it  not  been  for  the 
brown  eyes  of  Bettie  Atwood  and  an  offer  from  his 
father,  now  old  and  failing  in  health,  to  sell  him  the 
old  place  at  his  own  terms. 

"  Hello,  Bob !  "  he  called  as  his  nephew  came  for- 
ward, "  sorry  we  missed  you.  The  bus  driver  said 
you'd  left  on  foot  for  the  farm  when  you  didn't  see  us 
around.    How've  you  been  lately?  " 

"  Oh,  I'm  all  right,"  replied  Bob. 

"  Hello,  grandfather!  "  he  called,  as  he  went  round 
to  the  side  of  the  wagon  to  greet  his  grandfather. 

"  You  don't  seem  to  grow  much,  Bob,"  he  laughed, 
as  he  shook  hands.  "Cooped  up  too  much  in  that 
grocery  store — you  need  the  open  air  of  the  country 
to  stretch  you  out.  Just  look  at  your  Uncle  Joe  there — 
see  what  the  country  has  done  for  him." 

"  Oh,  I'll  grow  all  right,  grandfather.  I  like  the 
country  and  the  open-air  life,  too,  and  father  says  I 
may  take  up  farming  work  if  I  want  to." 

The  team  was  soon  put  away,  and  shortly  after  sup- 
per Bob,  too  sleepy  to  keep  his  eyes  open,  went  to  bed. 


II 

A  day's  work 

"  Bob!  Bob!  Time  to  get  up  and  do  your  chores." 

The  sleepy  boy  rolled  over,  rubbed  his  eyes  and 
sat  up,  trying  to  remember  where  he  was  and  Who  was 
calling  him ;  then  he  recognized  the  voice  of  his  uncle, 
and  jumped  quickly  out  of  bed. 

"  All  right,  Uncle  Joe,  I'm  coming,"  he  answered, 
as  he  felt  around  in  the  dark  for  his  clothes,  for  he  had 
neglected  to  provide  himself  with  matches  to  light 
the  oil  lamp  that  stood  near  by  on  the  dresser. 

His  clothes  were  simple,  and  getting  up  before  dawn 
was  no  new  experience  for  him,  A  few  moments  later 
he  hurried  down  to  the  kitchen,  where  his  uncle,  who 
had  just  finished  stirring  the  kitchen  fire,  was  filHng 
the  tea-kettle. 

"  Well ! — are  you  up  for  all  day.  Bob?  "  he  inquired 
cheerily. 

"  I  will  be  as  soon  as  I  get  awake,"  he  answered, 
as  he  started  for  the  rain  barrel  for  water  to  wash. 

As  the  water  in  the  well  was  hard,  rain  water  was 
used  for  washing,  except  in  winter,  when  the  barrels 
were  frozen  solidly.  The  early  spring  rains  had  filled 
the  barrels  again,  but  as  the  night  had  been  cold,  ice  had 
frozen  over  the  top.  His  uncle  had  been  to  the  barrel 
ahead  of  him  and  broken  the  ice,  so  he  dipped  up  the 
basin  full  of  water,  and  placing  it  on  a  bench  on  the 
porch,  washed  his  face  and  hands. 

£8 


24  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

Above  the  wash  bench,  summer  and  winter,  hung 
the  roller  towel,  and  near  by  the  mirror  and  family  horn 
comb.  In  the  dark  the  mirror  was  of  doubtful  use,  but 
with  a  few  well-directed  strokes  of  the  comb  he  man- 
aged to  get  a  semblance,  at  least,  of  neatness  to  his 
hair.  He  shivered  a  little  as  he  finished — just  as  his 
uncle  appeared,  milk  pails  and  lantern  in  hand, 

"  I  want  you  to  do  the  milking  from  now  on.  Bob, 
for  it's  not  the  kind  of  work  a  woman  should  do," 
said  his  uncle,  and  handing  him  the  pails,  they  started 
for  the  barn. 

"  You're  right.  Uncle  Joe,"  replied  Bob.  "  I 
always  milked  our  cow  at  home  so  mother  wouldn't 
have  to  do  it;  besides,  it  doesn't  take  so  very  long." 

Bob  had  been  taught  to  take  good  care  of  the  fam- 
ily cow — a  well-bred  Guernsey,  whose  stable  had  a  good 
cement  floor  and  was  neatly  whitewashed.  Once  or 
twice  a  week  he  would  curry-comb  and  brush  her  from 
nose  to  tail.  Nothing  gave  him  greater  pride  than  to 
have  his  father  bring  some  one  unexpectedly  into  the 
stable  to  look  at  his  charge  and  comment  on  the  clean 
manner  in  which  both  stable  and  cow  were  kept.  His 
mother  sold  the  milk  they  did  not  need  for  their  own 
use,  and  had  no  trouble  in  getting  two  cents  a  quart 
more  than  the  regular  price — ^partly  on  account  of  the 
cow  being  so  well  bred  and  giving  rich  milk,  but  prin- 
cipally on  account  of  the  reputation  the  clean  stable 
had  made  In  the  village. 

The  cow  barn  that  Bob  now  entered  was  built  under . 


A  DAY'S  WORK  25 

a  portion  of  the  main  barn,  adjacent  to  the  thrashing 
floor,  and  was  dark,  even  in  the  dayhght.  The  earthen 
floor  was  foul  with  neglect.  The  cows,  instead  of  being 
secured  in  separate  stalls  with  stanchions,  w^ere  chained 
up  in  a  row  to  a  long,  old-fashioned  manger. 

Upon  entering,  Bob's  uncle  hung  up  the  lantern; 
then,  seeing  Bob  look  around  and  hesitate,  asked : 

"  What  are  you  looking  for,  Bob?  " 

"  I  was  looking  for  a  fork  to  clean  the  stable.  I 
always  clean  the  stable  and  brush  off  the  cow  at  home 
before  milking,"  he  replied. 

'*  Well,  I  guess  you're  a  little  late  to  start  that 
here,"  laughed  his  uncle.  "Never  mind  the  floor; 
we'll  back  the  wagon  in  here  after  breakfast  and  give 
it  a  good  cleaning." 

"All  right.  Uncle  Joe;  but  where's  the  brush?" 
asked  Bob. 

"  Brush!    What  brush?  "  asked  his  uncle. 

"  Why,  don't  you  brush  off  the  cows  each  morn- 
ing before  you  milk  them?"  asked  Bob.  "Father 
always  insisted  that  I  brush  Gumey  each  morning." 

"  Well,  your  father's  not  a  farmer  and  you've  only 
one  cow,  while  we  have  eight,  and,  besides,  I've  lots  of 
other  work  to  do  without  curry-combing  cows,"  replied 
his  uncle  in  a  sarcastic  tone,  angered  at  Bob's  refer- 
ence to  his  father's  greater  knowledge  of  fami  work. 

"  Better  hurry  up  with  your  milking.  Bob,  while  I 
feed  the  horses,"  he  added,  as  he  left  him  staring  at 
the  cows. 


86  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

He  could  not  remember  ever  having  seen  such 
dirty  cows  or  so  dirty  a  stable  before.  Then  he  sud- 
denly thought  that  he  had  always  visited  the  farm  in 
the  summer  time,  when  the  cattle  were  kept  in  the  fields 
and  milked  in  the  open  barn  yard. 

He  finished  the  milking  as  best  he  could,  and  was 
not  surprised  to  find  that  instead  of  getting  forty 
quarts  from  the  eight  cows,  he  received  only  fifteen 
quarts — ^about  three  times  as  much  as  he  got  from 
Gurney  alone.  He  now  remembered  the  answer  he 
once  heard  his  father  give  a  visitor  at  Gumey's  stable. 

"  But,  Mr.  Williams,"  the  visitor  had  said,  "  a 
purebred  cow  must  be  considerably  more  expensive  in 
upkeep  than  an  ordinary  one." 

"  That's  where  you're  mistaken,"  his  father  had 
replied,  *'for  a  well-bred  cow  eats  no  more  than  a 
common  one — in  fact,  Gurney  eats  less,  and  the  differ- 
ence in  the  amount  and  quality  of  the  milk  soon  pays 
for  the  difference  in  the  first  cost.  Then,  there's  the 
pleasure  that  Bob  gets  out  of  the  care  he  gives  to  an 
animal  that  is  worth  while,  and  assuredly  that's  some- 
thing not  to  be  lightly  lost  sight  of." 

Dawn  was  breaking  when  Bob  finished.  On  the 
way  to  the  house  he  met  his  uncle  coming  out  of  the 
yard,  a  huge  pail  of  swill  for  the  pigs  in  each  hand. 

"  Thought  I'd  feed  the  pigs  for  you  this  morning," 
he  said,  as  Bob  set  down  his  milk  pails  and  held  the 
gate  open  for  his  uncle  to  pass  through.  "  It  will  take 
y©u  a  day  or  two  to  get  your  hand  in,"  he  added. 


A  DAY'S  WORK  27 

Bob  made  no  reply,  but  he  noticed  the  swill  was 
full  of  broken  ice,  like  the  rain  barrel  from  which  he 
had  taken  the  water  to  wash  that  morning,  and  he  was 
wondering  how  much  good  a  cold  breakfast  like  that 
would  do  even  for  a  pig. 

He  carried  the  milk  pails  into  the  kitchen,  where  he 
found  his  grandmother  busy  preparing  breakfast. 

"  Shall  I  take  the  milk  to  the  cellar?  "  he  asked,  as 
he  set  the  pails  on  the  floor  to  rest  his  arms. 

"  No,  thank  you,  Bob;  I  usually  strain  it  here  in 
the  kitchen  before  taking  it  down,"  she  replied ;  "  but 
you  may  feed  the  calves — that's  their  wami  milk 
there  by  the  stove.  You'll  find  four  of  them  in  the 
orchard,  back  of  the  smokehouse.  Divide  the  milk 
among  them,  and  hurry  back  to  breakfast." 

Bob  disappeared  with  the  milk,  but  was  back  in 
a  few  minutes.  The  tin  wash  basin  was  put  into  serv- 
ice again — this  time  hot  water  from  the  boiling  tea 
kettle  took  the  chill  off,  and  in  a  few  minutes,  he  joined 
his  uncle  who,  having  already  washed,  had  that  moment 
seated  himself  at  the  breakfast  table. 

"  Will  you  feed  the  chickens  for  me,  Bob?  "  asked 
his  grandmother,  as  he  rose  from  the  table  after  break- 
fast. "  You'll  find  some  shell  corn  in  a  feed  box  on 
the  thrashing  floor.    Give  them  two  measures." 

"  Come  around  to  the  wagon  shed  when  you  get 
through  with  feeding  the  chickens.  Bob,"  called  his 
uncle,  as  he  started  for  the  barn.  "  I'll  get  the  team 
and  we'll  clean  out  the  cow  stable  to-day." 


S8  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

Bob  filled  the  small  wooden  box  he  found  in  the 
feed  bin,  then  stepping  out  into  the  barnyard,  he  called 
the  chickens  around  him.  He  could  not  help  observ- 
ing what  a  nondescript  lot  of  chickens  they  were — not 
a  purebred  among  them;  besides,  he  noticed  many  were 
old,  and  some  had  frozen  feet  and  combs.  No  wonder, 
he  thought,  as  he  glanced  at  the  poorly  built  hen  house 
that  faced  the  east  instead  of  south — a  lean-to  built 
against  the  side  of  the  barn,  with  only  one  small  win- 
dow, and  that  one  on  the  north  end,  while  the  cracks  be- 
tween the  upright  boards,  of  which  the  coop  was  con- 
structed, were  not  even  covered  by  strips. 

With  these  fowls  he  contrasted  his  own  prize-win- 
ning white  leghorns,  with  their  well-built  and  ventilated 
pen,  with  its  two  large  windows  to  the  south.  He 
wondered  how  long  they  would  have  averaged  four 
eggs  a  day  for  the  eight  hens  through  the  entire  winter, 
if  he  had  fed  them  with  only  cold  grain  instead  of  care- 
fully prepared  feed,  and  had  kept  them  in  such  a  cheer- 
less home.  No  wonder  his  grandmother,  who  got  the 
money  from  the  sale  of  the  eggs,  said  chickens  didn't 
pay,  and  that  the  few  eggs  the  hens  did  lay  in  the  win- 
ter were  usually  frozen  before  they  could  be  collected. 

He  now  joined  his  uncle  and  they  began  the  annual 
cleaning  of  the  cow  stable  and  barnyard.  The  stable 
was  not  hard  work,  although  the  long  corn  stalks 
that  were  tramped  deep  into  the  floor  were  trouble- 
some and  required  much  labor  to  pry  loose.  They 
finished  the  cleaning  of  the  cow  stable  by  noon,  but 


A  DAY'S  WORK  29 

when  they  started  on  the  barnyard  in  the  afternoon 
they  found  it  was  frozen  almost  solid,  so  they  made 
slow  headway  and  Bob's  arms  and  back  ached  from 
the  unaccustomed  heavy  work. 

"  When  shall  I  quit  to  do  the  milking? "  he 
inquired,  as  he  noticed  the  sun  getting  low. 

"  Oh.  we'll  be  knocking  off  pretty  soon,"  was  his 
uncle's  indefinite  answer. 

It  was  nearly  six  o'clock  and  getting  dark  when 
his  uncle  finally  decided  they  had  done  enough  work 
for  one  day. 

"  Guess  you'd  better  hustle,  Bob,"  he  said.  "  I 
didn't  notice  it  was  so  late.  Your  grandmother  will 
wait  supper  for  you." 

Bob  jumped  down  stiffly  from  the  seat  of  the 
wagon  and,  after  cleaning  his  shoes,  went  to  the  house, 
as  his  uncle  had  directed,  and  washed  up. 

"Are  you  tired?"  asked  his  grandmother,  as  he 
came  into  the  kitchen  where  she  was  busy  cooking  by 
lamp  light.  "  Your  Uncle  Joe's  starting  right  in  to 
have  you  do  all  the  work  on  the  farm  in  a  day;  he 
should  have  let  you  stop  an  hour  ago  to  do'  the  milking." 

Bob  made  no  reply.  He  took  his  pails  and  lantern 
and  started  for  the  barn.  His  hands  were  stiff  and 
blistered  from  using  the  fork  all  day,  and  it  was  with 
difficulty  that  he  finished  his  task  in  the  ill-smelling 
and  badly  ventilated  bam.  His  back  ached,  too,  as  he 
carried  the  pails  to  the  house. 

"  Why  were  you  so  long?  "  asked  his  uncle  impa- 


30  HroDEN  TREASUKE 

tiently,  as  Bob  entered.  "  Your  grandmother  wouldn't 
let  us  eat  till  you  came  in,  so  I  fed  the  calves  and  pigs 
for  you  while  we  were  waiting." 

"  At  home,  Uncle  Joe,"  replied  Bob,  as  they  seated 
themselves  at  the  table,  **  we  always  milk  at  five  o'clock 
and  don't  let  anything  else  interfere  with  it.  Father 
says  a  cow  should  be  milked  early  and  regularly." 

"  Well,  Bob,  your  father's  not  a  farmer,  and  if  he 
wants  you  to  quit  in  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  to 
milk  your  cow,  you  can  do  so,  but  we'll  milk  ours  after 
the  day's  work's  done,"  was  the  stern  answer. 

"  Probably  that's  the  reason  Gurney  gives  nearly 
as  much  milk  as  any  three  of  yours,"  replied  Bob 
quietly,  to  which  remark  his  uncle  made  no  reply. 


Ill 

A  RAINY  DAY 

"  Bob,"  said  his  uncle  one  rainy  Saturday  morning, 
a  week  later,  "it's  such  a  bad  day  we  can't  do  anything 
outdoors,  so  we'd  better  sharpen  up  the  tools;  there's 
a  lot  of  them  that  need  grinding." 

"  All  right,"  said  Bob,  and  he  got  a  can  of  water 
for  the  grindstone — an  ancient  model,  turned  by  hand. 

His  uncle  gathered  up  the  tools  and  piled  them 
beside  the  stone.  There  were  two  double-bitted  axes 
and  one  pole  axe,  two  brush  hooks,  three  mowing 
scythes,  a  hatchet,  a  meat  cleaver,  half  a  dozen  knives, 
both  long  and  short — to  say  nothing  of  a  drawing 
knife,  some  chisels  and  planes,  which  were  added  to 
the  pile  as  an  afterthought. 

Bob  looked  dubiously  at  the  tools  as  his  uncle 
deposited  them  near  at  hand. 

"  Are  we  going  to  sharpen  them  all.  Uncle  Joe?  " 
he  inquired,  as  he  took  hold  of  the  handle  and  set  the 
stone  turning. 

"  Oh,  this  is  only  a  short  job,"  laughed  his  uncle,  as 
he  picked  up  a  dull  axe  and  pressed  the  bit  so  heavily 
against  the  stone  that  it  stopped. 

"Why,  what's  the  matter.  Bob — not  tired  before 
you  get  started,  are  you?  "  he  laughed. 

Bob  made  no  reply.    He  needed  all  his  strength  to 

31 


32  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

turn  the  stone.    After  a  few  minutes'  work  against  his 
uncle's  weight,  he  was  compelled  to  quit. 

"  Can't  we  oil  or  grease  it  up  or  do  something  to 
make  it  turn  easier,  Uncle  Joe?"  he  asked  as  he 
straightened  up. 

"  Bah,  who  ever  heard  of  oiling  a  grindstone?  " 
answered  his  uncle,  throwing  some  water  on  the  bear- 
ings, which  caused  a  lot  of  rust  to  work  out  at  the  ends. 

"  I  guess  you'd  like  to  go  fishing  to-day,  instead 
of  working?  "  he  observed. 

"  No,  Uncle  Joe,  I'm  willing  to  work,"  replied  Bob, 
"  but  you  don't  know  how  hard  this  old  stone  turns." 

'^Oh;  I  don't,  don't  I?  "  said  his  uncle.  "  Well,  I 
turned  this  stone,  Bob,  before  you  were  born,  and  your 
father  turned  it  before  me." 

"  And  you  never  put  any  oil  or  grease  on  it  all  that 
time?"  inquired  Bob. 

"  Of  course  not,"  said  his  uncle,  "  only  elbow  grease. 
We  boys  always  had  enough  of  that  to  keep  the 
stone  running  in  those  days,"  he  continued  with  a 
sarcastic  smile. 

"  Well,  there  might  have  been  an  excuse  in  those 
days.  Uncle  Joe,  for  using  a  hand-power  grindstone, 
but  there  certainly  is  none  in  these  days,  with  water 
power,  electricity  and  gasoline,"  he  added,  between 
breaths,  as  he  began  tugging  away  again  at  the  handle. 

"If  you  wouldn't  waste  your  energy  talking  non- 
sense and  turn  faster,  we  would  get  done  sooner,"  said 
his  uncle  bearing  down  harder  than  ever. 


A  RAINY  DAY  33 

Bob  stopped  turning  and  stood  up  as  straight  as  his 
aching  back  would  allow  him,  and  looking  his  uncle 
square  in  the  eyes,  said: 

"  Suppose  you  turn  a  while,  Uncle  Joe,  and  I'll 
hold  the  axe." 

"  No,  you  just  keep  on  turning — you  don't  know 
how  to  grind  an  axe,"  replied  his  uncle ;  "  besides,  that's 
the  boy's  job." 

"  Perhaps  you  could  teach  me  how  it's  done,  while 
you're  turning,"  said  Bob,  not  offering  to  continue. 

"  That's  only  fair,  Joe,"  said  his  grandfather,  com- 
ing up  suddenly  behind  them  and  overhearing  what  was 
said.  "  The  old  stone  does  seem  to  turn  harder  than 
ever  these  days.  " 

"  Well,  I'll  show  you  how  easy  it  turns,"  said  his 
uncle,  starting  the  stone  spinning,  but  looked  up 
quickly  a  moment  later  as  it  suddenly  slowed  down  to 
a  dead  stop,  for  his  father,  instead  of  Bob,  was  hold- 
ing the  axe  against  it. 

"  Go  on,  Joe;  don't  stop;  it's  only  a  boy's  job,"  he 
laughed,  as  he  bore  down  so  hard  on  the  axe  that  the 
stone  could  not  be  started. 

"Where  are  you  going.  Bob?  "  asked  his  uncle,  as 
Bob  started  in  the  direction  of  the  bam. 

"  I'm  going  toi  the  wagon  shed,  Uncle  Joe,  to  get 
some  axle  grease  and  see  if  we  can't  mal<e  the  stone 
turn  easier." 

The  metal  plates  covering  the  bearings  were 
removed,  and  the  caked  rust  pried  out  from  between 
8 


S4  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

the  rollers,  for  the  stone  had  been  mounted  on  small 
cast-iron  wheels  or  rollers,  but  the  wheels  had  been 
allowed  to  become  rusted  and  finally  had  ceased  to 
revolve. 

When  the  rust  had  all  been  cleaned  out  and  the 
wheels  removed  and  cleaned,  they  were  well  greased 
and  replaced. 

"  Now  try  it,  Bob,"  said  his  grandfather,  smiling; 
"  it's  a  poor  rain  that  doesn't  bring  some  good." 

The  stone  now  spun  around  easily  in  the  hands  of 
the  willing  boy,  and  by  noon  all  the  tools  had  been 
ground,  including  some  additional  ones  that  his  grand- 
father, seeing  the  work  going  so  fast,  had  added  to  the 
pile.  When  all  were  finished.  Bob  wiped  them  off  with 
a  greasy  rag,  while  his  grandfather  stood  watching  him 
keenly. 

*'  You'll  make  a  good  farmer  some  day.  Bob,"  he 
said  a  little  later,  "  for  I  see  you  use  your  head  as  well 
as  your  muscle.  All  my  life  I've  been  grinding  farm 
tools,  but  I  never  once  greased  them  to  keep  them  from 
getting  rusty,  and  they  were  mostly  rusty,  too,  when 
I  wanted  to  use  them,"  he  added  with  a  dry  smile. 

"  How'd  you  like  to  have  the  afternoon  off.  Bob, 
to  fish?"  asked  his  uncle  after  dinner,  looking  at  the 
rain. 

"  Fine,  Uncle  Joe !  Perhaps  I  could  catch  a  mess 
for  supper,"  the  boy  replied,  and  without  waiting  for 
any  further  suggestions  started  for  the  woodshed  to 
get  his  rod  and  line. 


A  RAINY  DAY  35 

He  was  soon  sitting  on  the  end  of  the  log  carriage 
under  the  shelter  of  the  saw-mill  roof,  his  line  dangling 
into  the  water  of  the  forebay,  waiting  for  a  bite.  He 
had  been  seated  only  a  few  moments  when  his  atten- 
tion was  attracted  by  a  small  automobile  bouncing  over 
the  deep-rutted  road,  a  few  yards  to  the  south  of  the 
mill.  When  it  got  nearly  opposite,  one  of  the  rear 
tires,  with  a  loud  report,  blew  out,  and  it  came  to  a  sud- 
den stop.  Two  men  got  out  of  the  car,  but  after 
looking  up  at  the  sky  decided  to  wait  until  the  shower 
was  over  before  making  the  repairs.  So,  turning  up 
their  coat  collars,  they  ran  over  to  the  shelter  of  the 
mill. 

They  did  not  seem  to  notice  Bob  as  they  came  up 
a  plank  at  the  opposite  end,  but  sat  down  on  a  log 
with  their  back  to  him.  As  they  seated  themselves, 
one  of  the  men  took  out  his  cigar  case  and  passed  it 
to  the  other. 

"  We'd  better  be  careful  about  smoking  in  a  saw 
mill,  John,  don't  you  think  ?  "  remarked  the  other,  as 
he  hesitated  to  take  the  proffered  cigar. 

"  Oh,  that's  all  right,  Al,"  said  his  friend.  "  Just 
be  careful  where  you  throw  the  match." 

"This  must  be  a  pretty  old  mill,  John,"  said  the 
one  called  "Al,"  a  few  moments  later,  as,  his  cigar 
lighted,  he  gazed  around  at  the  structure. 

"  Well,  it's  been  here  for  some  time,  that's  sure," 
his  friend  replied. 

"  Don't  they  ever  use  it  any  more?     Don't  look 


36  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

as  though  they  have  cut  any  lumber  here  in  years," 
remarked  Al. 

"  No,  the  timber's  pretty  well  cut  down  around 
here,  Al,  and  one  doesn't  haul  it  very  far  in  these  days 
of  portable  steam  mills.  In  the  old  days,  you  know, 
they  hauled  the  tree  to  the  mill ;  nowadays,  they  take  the 
mill  to  the  tree.    It's  the  modern  idea." 

"  But  I  should  think  they  would  use  the  power  for 
other  things,"  his  friend  persisted.  "  For  one  thing, 
the  water  would  be  able  to  run  a  small  generator  and 
supply  the  farm  with  electric  lights." 

"Electric  light!  Ha!  Ha!  Joe  Williams  using 
electric  lights  on  his  farm — that's  a  good  one,  Al." 

"Well,  why  not?"  demanded  his  friend.  "Elec- 
tricity is  not  a  new  thing,  even  in  the  country,  and  there 
certainly  are  enough  uses  for  power  on  a  farm  that 
would  pay  for  a  plant  in  a  very  short  time." 

"  Yes,  but  you  don't  know  Joe  Williams,  Al,"  per- 
sisted his  friend. 

"  Well,  who  is  he,  then,  that  he  never  heard  of 
electricity?  "  demanded  Al. 

"Oh,  he's  heard  of  electricity  all  right;  but  you 
see  he's  not  progressive — ^he  has  no  '  git  up  and  git,' 
as  they  say  around  here.  Of  course,  he  expects  to  find 
electric  lights  and  concrete  sidewalks  in  town,  but  elec- 
tric lights  on  his  farm  and  good  roads  from  here  to 
town  would  never  enter  his  head,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Has  he  always  lived  here?  Doesn't  he  ever  gtt 
far  enough  away  from  home  to  know  what  the  rest 


A  RAINY  DAY  37 

of  the  world  is  doing,  or  is  he  just  plain  lazy?  "  asked 
his  friend. 

"  Neither,  Al.  In  fact,  he  spent  two  years  on  the 
big  farms  in  the  West,  and  I  had  hoped  he  would  wake 
up  our  fanners  with  new  ideas  when  he  came  back  and 
bought  the  old  homestead.  But  I've  been  disappointed. 
He's  one  of  those  powerful  men,  who  thinks  that 
farming  is  a  matter  of  physical  strength  rather  than 
thoughtful  planning.  He  doesn't  seem  to  see  the  ad- 
vantage of  headwork.  True,  it's  going  to  take  a  lot  of 
hard  work  to  redeem  this  old  place  with  its  dilapidated 
buildings  and  broken-down  fences,  but  headwork  will 
help  a  lot.  Why,  do  you  know,  Al,  the  acreage  wasted 
by  rail  fences  on  this  farm  alone  would  raise  enough 
corn  each  year  to  send  a  boy  to  college." 

"  Yes,  and  what's  more,"  he  continued,  "  here's  an 
old  pond  full  of  the  richest  soil  in  the  whole  county — 
soil  that's  been  washed  down  from  the  fertile  fields  for 
years — to  say  nothing  of  the  drainage  from  three  big 
barns ;  and  what  does  it  produce  ? — nothing.  Do  you 
know,  if  I  owned  this  farm,  I'd  open  the  gates  and  let 
the  water  out,  put  in  some  drain  tile  and  plant  this  bot- 
tom land  in  corn.  Why,  when  that  corn  got  ripe,  you 
couldn't  find  a  ladder  long  enough  in  the  county  to 
reach  up  to  the  ears,  the  stalks  would  grow  so  high." 

"  Well,  that  would  be  some  tall  corn,  John," 
laughed  his  friend,  "  but  I've  no  doubt  it's  just  as  you 
say — this  bottom  would  raise  fine  corn.  Speaking  of 
that,  you  ought  to  see  some  of  the  corn  I've  seen  in 


38  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

the  bottom  lands  out  in  Illinois  and  Iowa.    But  what 
about  electricity  if  you  do  away  with  the  dam?" 

"  Do  you  see  those  two  beech  trees  down  there, 
near  the  fence  where  the  brook  cuts  in  between  the 
two  steep  banks  ?  "  asked  John  pointing. 

"  Yes,  I  do,"  said  his  friend. 

"  Well,  do  you  notice  how  the  banks  approach  each 
other  at  that  point  ?  A  thirty-  or  forty-foot  dam  built 
across  there  would  back  up  the  water  over  an  acre  or 
two  of  ground  in  there — that  land  is  unfit  for  any- 
thing else — and  it  would  give  them  all  the  water  they'd 
need  for  cutting  ice  in  the  winter  and  swimming  in 
the  summer;  and  as  for  electricity,  a  little  direct-con- 
nection unit  run  by  gasoline  and  setting,  in  one  comer 
of  the  garage,  where  it  would  be  near  at  hand,  would 
do  the  trick  nicely.  You  know,  Al,"  he  continued,  "  the 
trouble  with  our  farmers  is  they  don't  manage  right. 
Now  take  Joe  Williams  here  for  an  example.  Here's 
wasted  water  power;  he's  still  turning  the  old  grind- 
stone by  hand,  and  probably  will  all  his  life,  unless 
someone  wakes  him  up.  Then  here's  this  good 
bottom  land  wasted.  Why,  it  was  only  last  week  he 
came  in  to  see  me  at  the  bank  to  borrow  a  thousand 
dollars — said  he  was  going  to  get  married  and  needed 
some  money  to  set  himself  up  in  housekeeping,  as  he's 
put  all  his  money  into  buying  the  farm.  Said  he's 
going  to  marry  a  woman  who's  used  to  a  little  better 
than  farm  life,  and,  now  that  he's  got  his  brother's  boy 
helping  him.  he  would  like  to  put  on  another  team." 


A  RAINY  DAY  39 

"  Did  you  loan  him  the  money,  John?  "  asked  his 
friend,  keenly  interested. 

"  No,  I  didn't,  Al.  I  told  him  I'd  think  it  over. 
In  fact,  it  was  to  look  things  over  that  I  came  out  here 
to-day,"  he  replied, 

"  I  don't  know  whether  I  mentioned  to  you,  John," 
remarked  his  friend,  "  but  the  Farmers'  Mutual  Life 
Insurance  Company,  which  I  represent,  is  seeking  all 
the  farm  loans  they  can  find.  We  consider  them  the 
best  loans  to-day." 

"  How's  that,  Al?  "  asked  the  banker. 

"  Well,  it's  like  this.  You  loan  a  farmer  a  thousand 
dollars  and  in  nearly  every  case  the  money  goes  to 
improve  the  land,  hence  makes  the  value  that  much 
greater.  Then  a  wide-awake  farmer  generally  wakes 
up  his  neighbors  and  the  value  of  all  the  farms  goes 
up,  which  naturally  makes  our  risk  less.  We  don't 
care  how  bad  a  farm  may  be  run,  down,  John,  if  the 
farmer  is  a  live  one — one  who  has  the  *  git  up  and  git,' 
as  you  say — we'll  advance  him  any  reasonable  amount 
of  money  to  help  him.  And  that,  by  the  way,  brings 
me  around  to  tell  you  why  I  dropped  off  to  see  you 
this  morning.  We  want  tO'  place  some  of  our  surplus 
funds  in  farm  loans  in  your  section  and  would  like  to 
have  your  bank  handle  them  for  us." 

"  \Vhy,  Al,  that's  fine.  I've  a  small  policy  myself 
in  your  company,  and  it's  certainly  good  of  you  to 
pick  out  the  First  National  to  place  these  loans.  I'll 
be  a  real  booster  for  your  company  now. 


40  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  But  referring  to  wasted  opportunities,  Al,  do  you 
see  ttiat  sand  and  gravel  pit  over  there  on  the  other 
side  of  the  pond?  There's  enough  sand  and  gravel 
there,  I've  no  doubt,  to  supply  this  entire  county  with 
concrete  fence  posts,  silos,  barns  and  all  manner  of 
buildings,  to  say  nothing  of  building  fine  concrete 
roads  throughout  the  whole  county.  And  I'll  tell  you 
something  more :  Joe  Williams  hasn't  waked  up  to  the 
fact  that  there's  a  railroad  coming  through  about  three 
miles  below  his  farm  that  will  require  thousands  of 
yards  of  sand  and  gravel  for  concrete  bridges,  and  that 
this  is  the  only  sand  and  gravel  pit  within  a  reasonable 
haul  that's  worth  while.  Why,  do  you  know,  Al,  for 
years  and  years  they've  been  letting  people  drive  in  here 
and  haul  away  sand  and  gravel  free  of  charge. 

"  You  don't  say!  "  exclaimed  his  friend. 

"  Yes,  but  speaking  of  concrete,  Al,  just  think  what 
a  saving  in  horseflesh  a  twenty- foot  smooth  concrete 
road  all  the  way  from  here  to  town  would  mean  to 
these  farmers — recent  tests  with  a  three-ton  auto  truck 
show  that  while  it  could  make  only  3'.  6  miles  per  hour 
over  dirt  roads,  it  could  make  twelve  miles  per  hour 
over  unsurfaced  concrete  roads,  which  would  repre- 
sent in  the  United  States  a  saving  of  nearly  two  and 
one-half  million  dollars  on  auto-truck  hauling  alone,  to 
say  nothing  of  horse-drawn  vehicles^ — just  think  of  it, 
Al.  But  there's  that  old  dirt  road,  same  as  it's  been 
for  years,  hub  deep  with  mud  in  spring  and  winter, 
and  so  dusty  in  summer  that  there  is  no  pleasure  in 


A  RAINY  DAY  41 

driving  over  it,  and  a  dead  loss  in  both  time  and  money 
ever}'  time  a  farmer  drives  over  it." 

"  It's  surely  the  roughest  road  I've  ever  traveled 
on,  John,''  laughed  his  friend,  ''  and  I've  no  doubt  what 
you  say  is  right.  If  farmers  would  only  take  to  using 
lead  pencils  and  figure  a  little  they  would  soon  dis- 
cover where  their  losses  are." 

"  You  know  the  old  way  of  repairing  roads,  AI. 
They  dig  the  dirt  out  of  the  gutters  in  the  springtime 
and  fill  up  the  rut  holes,  and  then  the  next  spring  do  the 
same  thing  over  again,  from  *  generation  to  genera- 
tion,' as  the  good  Book  says.  I'm  satisfied  myself,"  he 
continued,  "  that  our  county  will  never  go  ahead  until 
we  begin  putting  down  good  roads.  I  was  telling  our 
Commissioners  only  yesterday  that  the  First  National 
Bank  would  guarantee  the  bond  issue  for  any  road- 
building  work  they  would  undertake  in  any  part  of 
the  county." 

The  two  men  sat  in  silence  for  a  time,  looking  out 
at  the  rain.  Then  they  got  up  and  started  to  walk 
to  the  other  end  of  the  mill. 

''Why,  hello,  boy!  Fishing?"  remarked  Al,  as 
he  noticed  Bob  for  the  first  time. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Bob. 

"  Catching  anything,  are  you  ?  "  asked  the  banker. 

"  Well,  you  never  can  tell  what  you  can  catch  on  a 
rainy  day,"  the  boy  replied  slowly.  "  Uncle  Joe 
greased  the  grindstone  to-day  for  the  first  time  in  its 
history." 


4«  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  You  don't  say !  "  laughed  the  banker ;  "  who  put 
him  up  to  that,  I'd  like  to  know?  " 

Bob  only  grinned  and  remained  silent. 

"  Well,  it  looks  as  though  the  rain  were  going  to 
pass  over,"  said  the  banker  a  few  minutes  later,  as  he 
looked  out  at  his  stranded  automobile. 

"What's  your  name,  young  man?"  inquired  the 
insurance  man. 

"  Bob  Williams,"  he  replied. 

"  Oh,  then  you  are  Billy  Williams'  son,  who's  work- 
ing here  this  summer,"  said  the  banker.  "  Well,  how 
does  it  happen  that  you're  fishing  instead  of  working 
to-day,  I'd  like  to  know  ?  Couldn't  your  Uncle  Joe  find 
anything  for  you  to  do  ?  " 

"  Yes,  he  did ;  but  we  greased  the  grindstone  and 
got  through  at  noon,"  Bob  replied  smiling. 

"  Well,  he  was  square  in  letting  you  have  the  after- 
noon off  after  you  showed  him  how  to  save  it,"  the 
banker  replied.  "  Some  time.  Bob,  when  you're  in 
town,  drop  in  and  see  me  at  the  bank,  and,  by  the  way, 
if  you  ever  catch  any  turtles,  bring  them  to  me.  I'll 
be  glad  to  pay  you  fifty  cents  each  for  all  you  can 
catch.     I'm  rather  fond  of  a  good  snapper." 

"What  are  you  going  to  do  now?"  inquired  the 
insurance  man,  seeing  Bob  winding  up  his  fishing  line. 

"  Guess  I'll  go  up  to  the  bam  and  look  for  some 
limiber  to  build  a  long  ladder,"  the  boy  replied  grinning. 

"  Well,  so  long,  Bob,"  said  the  insurance  man  with 
a  smile.    "  Good  luck  to  you !    I  see  you've  good  ears." 


IV 

DRAINING  THE  POND 

It  was  quite  evident  to  Bob  the  next  morning  that 
his  uncle  was  worrying  about  something;  he  was  not 
only  absent-minded,  but  he  was  short  and  crusty  and 
found  fault  with  everything  that  Bob  did. 

It  was  Sunday,  and  after  the  chores  were  finished, 
Bob  walked  down  back  of  the  barn  and  stood  looking 
at  the  pond  for  quite  a  while,  pondering  over  what  the 
banker  and  insurance  man  had  said.  Then  he  walked 
over  to  the  west  slope  which  ran  along  the  side  of  the 
small  hill  where  the  house  and  barn  stood  and  exam- 
ined the  contour  of  the  ground  carefully. 

"  WTiat  are  you  trying  to  discover  in  the  hog  lot, 
Bob?  "  asked  his  uncle,  suddenly  coming  up  behind 
him. 

Bob's  face  was  very  serious,  and  he  looked  up  at 
his  uncle  a  moment  before  replying. 

"  I  was  just  wondering  how  much  it  would  cost 
to  hire  a  man  to  grade  a  road  up  the  side  of  this  slope 
and  get  rid  of  the  steep  hill  in  front  of  the  barn." 

"  What  an  idea !  "  exclaimed  his  uncle.  "  Hire  a 
man,  indeed !  You  must  be  crazy.  We  don't  hire  any 
men  to  work  on  this  farm." 

"  Oh,  yes,  you  do — you  hired  me.  Uncle  Joe." 

"  Well,  but  that's  different.  Bob,"  said  his  uncle, 
half  smiling.     "  You  don't  get  paid." 

43 


44  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  do.  Uncle  Joe.  Father  said  you  told 
him  you'd  pay  me  whatever  I  was  worth  to  you,  and 
I'm  willing  to  wait  till  you  find  out,  but  I  certainly 
expect  to  be  paid  money  for  my  work." 

"  Your  father  shouldn't  have  told  you  I'd  give 
you  money.  Of  course,"  he  added  quickly,  seeing 
Bob's  face  cloud,  "  I  expect  to  get  you  some  new 
clothes  in  the  fall." 

"  But  father  said  I'm  old  enough  now  to  buy  my 
own  clothes  and  that  this  year  he'd  let  me  do  it.  You 
just  keep  account  of  how  much  work  and  other  things 
I  do  for  you  and  pay  me  what  I'm  worth,"  Bob 
answered. 

"  What  do  you  mean  about  other  things?  "  asked 
his  uncle  quickly. 

'*  Well,  for  instance,"  said  Bob,  looking  him 
squarely  in  the  eyes,  "  you  want  to  borrow  a  thousand 
dollars  at  the  First  National  Bank  and  they  haven't 
told  you  whether  they'd  give  it  to  you  or  not." 

"Who  told  you  that?"  demanded  his  uncle 
coloring. 

"  I  don't  care  to  say,"  replied  Bob,  "  but  it  wasn't 
grandmother  or  grandfather,"  he  added  quickly,  to 
clear  them  oi  any  suspicion  of  having  violated  a 
confidence. 

"  Of  course,  they  didn't,"  said  his  uncle.  "  They 
don't  know  anything  about  it." 

"  I  can  tell  you  how  you  can  get  all  the  money  you 
want — enough  even  to  build  a  new  house  and  a  new 


DRAINING  THE  POND  45 

bam,  with  silos,  new  fences,  and  other  buildings.  Also 
a  concrete  road  from  the  house  to  the  main  road  and 
put  a  bathroom  and  electric  lights  in  the  house,  too," 
Bob  added. 

"Have  you  gone  crazy?"  demanded  his  uncle, 
scarcely  able  to  believe  his  ears.  "  What  nonsense  are 
you  talking  this  morning?  " 

"  Well,  you  want  to  find  out  how  it  can  be  done, 
don't  you?  "  he  asked. 

"  Well,  it  won't  do  any  harm  to  tell  me,"  replied 
his  uncle,  suddenly  remembering  his  approaching  mar- 
riage and  how  far  his  slender  purse  would  go  toward 
fixing  up  the  place  and  making  it  presentable  to  his 
bride. 

"  Drain  the  pond  and  plant  it  in  corn,"  said  Bob 
triumphantly. 

"What's  that?"  asked  his  uncle  again,  not  sure 
he  heard  correctly. 

"  Drain  the  pond  and  plant  it  in  corn,"  repeated 
Bob.  "  You  won't  have  to  wait  till  you  sell  the  corn, 
either,  to  get  the  money." 

"  How's  that?  "  asked  his  uncle,  interested  in  spite 
of  himself. 

"  Well,  all  I  can  tell  you  is  to  do  it  and  the  First 
National  Bank  will  make  the  loan." 

"  Whoever  heard  of  such  a  thing  as  planting  com 
in  an  old  mill  pond,"  scoffed  his  uncle. 

"  I  did,"  replied  Bob  smiling. 

"  Who  told  you?  "  demanded  his  uncle,  looking  him 


46  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

over  from  head  to  foot,  for  Bob  with  his  ideas  was 
getting  to  be  more  and  more  of  a  puzzle  to  him  every 
day  as  he  upset  the  long-estabHshed  farm  traditions. 

"  The  president  of  the  bank  himself,"  declared 
Bob.  "  At  least  I  overheard  him  tell  another  man  that 
he  would." 

"  You  overheard  John  White,  president  of  the  First 
National  Bank,  discussing  with  someone  else  that  I 
wanted  to  borrow  a  thousand  dollars?  I  don't  believe 
it.  John  White  wouldn't  discuss  my  affairs  with  any- 
one, especially  when  boys  are  standing  around  listen- 
ing," vehemently  declared  his  uncle. 

"  I  wasn't  standing  around  listening,"  said  Bob 
blushing.  "  I  was  fishing  in  the  pond  yesterday  and 
I  sat  in  the  mill  to  get  out  of  the  rain.  I  was  fishing 
in  the  forebay,  and  they  came  in  the  mill  to  wait  until 
the  rain  was  over  and  sat  down  and  talked." 

"What!  They  talked  about  me?"  demanded  his 
uncle. 

"  They  talked  about  you  and  grandfather  and  all 
the  other  farmers  around  here.  Said  you  farmers  never 
used  your  heads  and  let  your  farms  run  down,  when 
all  you  had  to  do  was  to  show  him  you  had  some  '  git  up 
and  git '  and  you  could  have  all  the  money  you  wanted." 

"  Well,  if  that's  so,  then  why  didn't  he  give  it  to 
me  when  I  asked  him?  "  demanded  his  uncle. 

"  That  was  because  he  was  disappointed  in  you. 
You've  not  yet  shown  any  *  git  up  and  git,'  "  replied 
Bob. 


DRAINING  THE  POND  47 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  '  git  up  and  git '  ?  "  asked 
his  uncle. 

"  Why,  things  hke  draining  the  pond  and  making 
it  raise  corn  instead  of  letting  it  lie  there  a  waste; 
building  a  new;  road  up  to  the  bam  that  won't  be  so 
steep  you  can't  haul  a  load  up  or  down;  building  new 
wire  fences  with  concrete  posts  and  a  new  bam  with 
silos,  and " 

"  Stop!  "  shouted  his  enraged  uncle.  "  You're  only 
talking  to  hear  yourself,  Bob,  and  I'm  not  sure  but 
you're  talking  to  make  fun  of  me.  I've  a  good  notion 
to  get  a  buggy  whip  and  whale  you  for  such  imperti- 
nence," he  declared,  his  anger  suddenly  getting  the 
better  of  him.  "  No  '  git  up  and  git ' !  You  know  your- 
self I  work  from  before  daylight  until  long  after  dark 
as  it  is.    What  does  he  expect  me  to  do?  " 

"  Just  work  from  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  until 
six  at  night,  then  you  can  spend  the  rest  of  the  time 
planning  how  to  improve  the  farm." 

"  Did  he  say  that.  Bob?  "  demanded  his  uncle,  look- 
ing down  at  the  ground. 

"  Well,  not  just  that  way,"  replied  Bob,  "but  that's 
what  he  meant.  He  did  say,  though,  he  would  make 
the  loan  if  you  could  show  him  you  knew  how  to 
improve  the  farm,  and  he  did  say  that  if  he  owned  the 
farm  the  first  thing  he'd  do  would  be  to  drain  the  pond 
and  plant  it  in  corn.  It  was  his  friend  that  suggested 
the  electric  lights — and  he  wasn't  joking,  either.  Uncle 
Joe,"  stoutly  declared  Bob  with  much  eamestnes.i 


48  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  Come  over  to  the  barn,  Bob,"  said  his  uncle  after 
considering  the  matter  a  moment,  "  and  tell  me  just 
what  they  said." 

They  went  over  and  sat  on  the  fence  on  the  south 
side  of  the  barn  from  which  point  of  vantage  they 
could  see  the  pond. 

Bob  now  described  in  detail  all  that  he  had  over- 
heard, his  uncle  interrupting  from  time  to  time  tO'  ask 
questions.  When  he  had  finished  they  sat  in  silence 
for  quite  a  while,  then  his  uncle  jumped  down  from  the 
fence  and  turning  to  Bob  said : 

"  Come  on,  Bob,  let's  go  down  and  see  how  we  can 
drain  the  old  pond.  I'll  make  a  bargain  with  you  now. 
Your  father  told  you  I'd  be  willing  to  pay  you  what  you 
could  earn.  Well,  that  goes,  and  if  you  leave  it  to  me, 
I'll  settle  square  with  you  in  the  fall,  but  there's  one 
thing  I  want  you  to  do  and  that's  to  promise  me  you 
won't  tell  a  soul  about  this  matter,  and  you  and  I'll 
make  some  of  them  aro'und  here  sit  up  and  take  notice 
before  we  get  through." 

"  I'll  promise,"  said  Bob,  "  if  you'll  let  me  make 
one  exception." 

"Why,  who's  that?"  asked  his  uncle,  surprised 
at  his  answer. 

"  Aunt  Bettie,"  said  Bob. 

His  uncle  was  touched  by  the  thought  that  Bob 
was  not  willing  to  exclude  his  new  aunt-to-be  from  par- 
ticipating in  what  would  probably  be  her  greatest  joy — 
the  success  of  her  husband. 


DRAINING  THE  POND  49 

"  You  don't  know  her  yet,  Bob,"  he  said 

"  No,"  replied  Bob,  '*  but  grandmother  described 
her  to  me  and  I  know  I'm  going  to  hke  her." 

"  I'm  glad  now  I  didn't  go  to  church  this  morning, 
Bob — you've  given  me  an  idea,"  remarked  his  uncle, 
as  they  walked  along  the  breast  of  the  dam  to  the  mill. 
"  Well,  here's  the  gate.  I  guess  this  is  just  as  good  a 
time  as  any  to  start  and  they'll  hardly  consider  it 
working  on  Sunday  if  I  open  it  now — so  here  goes," 
and  up  came  the  gate,  and  the  water  began  rushing  out, 
sending  the  idle  wheel  spinning. 

They  sat  in  the  mill  until  noon,  listening  to  the  dull 
rumble  of  the  wheel  and  watching  the  water  getting 
lower  and  lower,  while  they  debated  the  best  way  of 
planting  the  bottom. 

"  I  suppose  we'd  better  go  up  and  get  our  dinner, 
Bob,"  said  his  uncle,  suddenly  coming  out  of  a  day 
dream  into  which  he  had  fallen  almost  an  hour  before. 

"  After  dinner,  Uncle  Joe,  may  I  come  down  and 
look  for  some  turtles  for  Mr.  White?  He  said  he'd 
pay  me  fifty  cents  apiece  for  all  I  could  catch." 

"  Did  he?  "  replied  his  uncle.  "  I'll  help  you,  Bob. 
We'll  bring  down  a  barrel  or  two  and  a  couple  of  rakes 
and  have  a  regular  turtle  hunt,"  he  laughed.  "  They 
can't  get  out  of  the  sluiceway  gate,  there's  a  wooden 
grating  there." 

As  soon  as  they  had  finished  their  dinner,  they  put 
on  some  old  clothes,  including  rubber  boots.  Then 
Bob  got  the  water  barrels  and  two  rakes  and  put  them 

4 


50  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

on  a  stone  drag,  while  his  uncle  harnessed  up  old 
Frank.  They  rode  down  the  hill  to  the  pond  and  near 
the  spillway  they  unhitched  the  horse  and  tied  him 
to  a  tree.  The  water  had  fallen  so  much  already  that 
there  were  little  shallow  pools  scattered  all  over  the 
bottom  of  the  pond,  and  in  some  of  these  they  could 
already  see  the  heads  of  surprised  turtles  sticking  out. 
They  took  their  rakes  and  waded  out  to  one  of  these 
pools.  The  bottom  of  the  pond  was  so  soft  they  sank 
nearly  up  to  their  boot  tops.  Bob,  who  was  the  first 
to  arrive  at  the  pool,  drew  his  rake  across  the  shallow 
water  and  a  big  struggling  snapping  turtle  was  over- 
turned and  dragged  out. 

"  There's  a  big  one.  Uncle  Joe,"  he  exclaimed,  as 
he  drew  the  turtle  from  the  water. 

"  All  right.  Bob,  I've  got  him,"  said  his  uncle, 
grasping  the  turtle  by  the  tail.  "  Now  look  for  another 
while  I  put  this  one  in  the  barrel." 

"  Hurry,  Uncle  Joe;  I've  a  big  one  here,"  he  called, 
and  his  uncle  came  splashing  back  through  the  mud 
as  fast  as  he  could  to  secure  the  prize. 

Two  more  were  gotten  from  this  pool  and  then  they 
moved  on  to  another.  The  second  pool  contained  four, 
and  as  soon  as  they  had  them  out  of  the  water  they 
dropped  their  rakes  and  grasping  a  tail  in  each  hand 
they  waded  through  the  mud  to  the  shore. 

"  Say,  Uncle  Joe,  there  must  be  a  lot  of  'em  in 
there.  I  guess  Mr.  White  will  be  surprised  when  he 
sees  them  all." 


DRAINING  THE  POND  51 

"  Why,  Bob,  you  surely  won't  take  them  all  in  at 
once,"  said  his  uncle,  starting  to  pry  something  out 
of  the  mud  that  proved  to  be  a  turtle  still  larger  than 
any  they  had  yet  found. 

"  Why  not?  "  said  Bob.  "  He  didn't  say  bring  in 
one  or  two — he  just  said  he'd  pay  fifty  cents  each  for 
all  I  could  catch ;  so  I'm  going  to  take  them  all  at  once, 
before  he  changes  his  mind  about  them.  Maybe  after 
he's  eaten  three  or  four  he  won't  be  willing  to  buy 
any  more." 

"  Three  or  four,  Bob,"  said  his  uncle,  "  why,  I 
really  believe  we'll  get  a  barrel  full." 

'*  All  the  better,"  said  Bob,  as  he  scraped  out 
another  big  one  from  behind  an  old  log.  "  They're 
in  here  thick  as  thieves." 

It  was  nearly  sundown  when  they  finished  the  hunt 
and  by  that  time  most  of  the  boys  in  the  neighborhood 
had  learned  that  the  water  was  being  drained  from  the 
pond  and  that  a  turtle  hunt  was  on  and  had  come  down 
to  see  the  fun. 

They  were  astonished  at  the  number  of  turtles  they 
found,  for  after  giving  every  boy  one,  they  had  two 
barrels  full  and  eight  big  turtles  beside. 

"  How  many  have  you  got,  Bob?  "  asked  his  uncle, 
as  they  hitched  up  the  horse  and  started  for  the  house. 

"  Sixty-three,  Uncle  Joe,  counting  the  big  one." 

"  Why,  that'll  be  over  thirty  dollars,"  said  his  uncle 
thoughtfully,  "but  I  told  you  they  were  yours,  Bob; 
you  suggested  the  idea  and  I'll  stick  to  it." 


52  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  Well,  it  only  goes  to  show,"  replied  Bob,  "  that 
Mr.  White  was  right.  We've  lots  of  resources  we're 
neglecting  to  develop." 

When  they  reached  the  barnyard  they  put  the  tur- 
tles in  the  corn  crib  until  morning,  for  they  didn't 
have  enough  empty  water  barrels  for  them  to  swim  in. 
They  then  went  into  the  house  and  got  rid  of  their 
muddy  clothes. 

"  Well,  I'm  glad  I  lived  long  enough  to  see  the  old 
pond  drained,"  remarked  Bob's  grandmother  at  sup- 
per that  night.  "  I  always  said  it  was  a  great  nuisance, 
as  well  as  a  waste  of  good  bottom  land — now  that 
there's  no  more  logs  to  be  sawed.  But  you  shouldn't 
have  done  it  on  Sunday,  Joe ;  you  should  have  waited 
until  to-morrow." 


SELLING  TURTLES 

A  LITTLE  after  nine  o'clock  the  following  morning, 
John  White,  president  of  the  First  National  Bank,  and 
his  friend,  Alfred  Dow,  superintendent  of  agencies  of 
the  Farmers'  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company,  of  New 
York  City,  walked  up  Sixth  Avenue  from  the  banker's 
home  and  turned  into  Philadelphia  Street.  They  were 
engaged  in  earnest  conversation  and  had  reached  the 
bank  before  they  noticed  a  farm  wagon  with  a  boy 
perched  on  the  driver's  seat,  standing  near  the  curb. 

"  Where  do  you  want  me  to  deliver  your  turtles, 
Mr.  White?"  called  the  boy,  and  the  men  turned  to 
look  at  the  speaker. 

"  Why,  hello,  Bob !  "  exclaimed  the  banker.  "  Did 
you  get  me  a  turtle  already?"  Then  turning  to  his 
friend,  he  remarked,  "  I  can  now  give  you  that  prom- 
ised turtle  dinner,  Al.  How  many  did  you  catch, 
Bob?  "  he  asked,  coming  over  to  the  wagon. 

"  Sixty-three,"  replied  Bob,  "  but  I  kept  one  for 
myself.'' 

"  What's  that  you're  saying?  "  asked  the  astonished 
banker.    "  Sixty-three  turtles  for  me?  " 

"No,  only  sixty-two  for  you,  Mr.  White;  I  kept 
one  for  myself,"  replied  Bob  smiling. 


54  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  But,  Bob,  what  would  I  do  with  sixty-two  turtles? 
I  couldn't  eat  that  many  in  ten  years." 

"  Well,  you  didn't  say  you'd  eat  them,"  said  Bob 
continuing  to  smile.  "  You  only  said  you'd  pay  fifty 
cents  each  for  all  I  could  catch  and  bring  to  you." 

"That's  right,  Bob;  he  did  say  that,"  interrupted 
Mr.  Dow,  enjoying  the  situation.  "  I'll  back  you,  Bob. 
He  made  a  verbal  contract  with  you  for  all  you  could 
catch,    I  heard  him  say  so  myself." 

"  But,  great  guns,  Al,  what  will  I  do  with  so  many 
turtles  ? "  asked  the  banker,  looking  hopelessly  from 
one  to  the  other. 

*'  I'll  tell  you  what,"  said  his  friend  still  laughing; 
"  our  company's  going  to  give  a  dinner  in  Pittsburgh 
day  after  tomorrow  to  our  Western  Pennsylvania 
agents.  I've  been  looking  for  a  novelty  for  the  dinner 
and  this  will  do  fine.  We'll  go  into  the  bank  and  call 
up  the  Fort  Henry  Hotel  and  talk  with  the  manager. 
We'll  sell  him  the  turtles  and  you  come  down  and  have 
dinner  with  us  and  meet  our  men." 

They  were  gone  about  twenty  minutes,  and  both 
were  laughing  when  they  returned. 

"  You  win,  Bob,"  said  the  banker. 

"  All  right,"  laughed  the  happy  boy.  "  Where  do 
you  want  them  delivered  and  who'll  count  them?  " 

"  Take  them  over  to  the  express  office,  and  I'll  take 
your  word  for  the  count.  Bob.  Tell  them  I'll  send  over 
the  shipping  directions  later." 

"  How  abotrt  the  grain  sacks?  "  asked  Bob.    *'  The 


SELLING  TURTLES  55 

turtles  are  mine,  but  the  grain  sacks  belong  to  Uncle 
Joe,  and  I'll  have  to  charge  you  extra  for  them  unless 
you  guarantee  that  they'll  be  returned." 

"  I'll  guarantee  to  have  them  returned,"  said  the 
banker,  "  but  tell  me,  Bob,  how  in  the  world  did  you 
catch  sixty-three  turtles  since  Saturday  afternoon?" 

"  Uncle  Joe  drained  the  pond  yesterday,"  replied 
Bob,  smiling  back  at  them  as  he  started  for  the  express 
office. 

A  half  hour  later  he  walked  into  the  bank  and 
stepping  up  to  the  cashier's  window  asked  for  the 
president. 

"  He's  in  a  conference  in  the  directors'  room," 
replied  the  cashier.     "Are  you  Bob  Williams?" 

"  Yes,"  he  replied. 

"  Come  this  way,"  he  said.  "  The  president  left 
word  to  have  you  shown  in  as  soon  as  you  returned. 
Turtles  seem  to  be  biting  pretty  good  this  weather," 
he  laughed,  as  he  conducted  him  to  a  small  room  in 
the  rear  of  the  bank. 

Bob  had  never  had  much  to  do  with  banks ;  indeed, 
he  could  count  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand  all  the  times 
he  had  ever  been  inside  of  one,  and  as  to  a  directors' 
private  room,  he  did  not  even  know  there  was  such  a 
place,  let  alone  ever  having  been  in  one.  It  was  not 
to  be  wondered  at  then  that  he  was  embarrassed  when 
he  entered  the  room  a  moment  later  and  saw  the 
president  and  his  friend  seated  in  comfortable  leather 
chairs  before  a  large  mahogany  table. 


56  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  Back  already,  Bob?  "  asked  the  banker.  "  I  don't 
suppose  you  thought  to  inquire  how  much  the  express 
charges  will  be  on  those  turtles  to  Pittsburgh?" 

*'  Yes,  I  did.  They  weighed  378  pounds,  and  the 
rate  is  75  cents  per  hundred  pounds — ^that  makes 
$2.63,"  he  replied,  drawing  a  small  notebook  from  his 
pocket  and  consulting  a  memorandum  he  had  made. 

"Do  you  always  figure  out  things?"  asked  the 
banker,  apparently  much  interested  that  Bob  had  taken 
the  trouble  to  find  out  the  rate  and  figure  the  cost  of 
the  expressage  to  Pittsburgh. 

"  I  do  most  always,"  he  answered.  "  I  learned  to 
do  that  selling  chickens  and  keeping  account  of  the 
milk  Gurney  gives." 

"  Don't  you  keep  a  record  of  the  milk  all  your 
cows  give?  "  asked  Mr.  Dow. 

"  Oh,  Gurney  is  our  cow  at  home — not  one  of  Uncle 
Joe's  cows.  Gumey's  a  purebred  with  a  pedigree," 
he  declared  proudly. 

"  When  are  you  going  to  start  keeping  a  record 
of  the  cows  on  the  farm,  Bob?  "  asked  the  banker. 

"  I  don't  know,"  replied  Bob.  "  Uncle  Joe  don't 
believe  in  it  yet.  He  thinks  it's  a  waste  of  time,  and 
he  always  laughs  when  I  tell  him  that  it  is  the  only 
way  to  find  out  if  a  cow's  worth  her  keep,  but,"  he 
added  smiling,  "  he  drained  the  pond  and  he  didn't 
believe  in  that  two  days  ago." 

"  I  suppose  you  want  the  money  for  the  turtles. 
Bob,"  said  the  banker,  getting  back  to  the  main  subject. 


SELLING  TURTLES  57 

"  Well,  yes,"  he  said,  "  but  who's  buying  them,  Mr. 
White — you  or  Mr.  Dow?  " 

"  Ha,  ha,"  laughed  the  banker.  "  This  is  where 
you  get  stuck,  Al." 

"  Why,  how's  that?  "  asked  his  friend. 

"  Well,"  said  the  banker,  "  I  asked  the  manager  of 
the  Fort  Henry  how  much  he'd  pay  a  pound  for  nice 
fat  turtles.  You  see.  Bob,  I  reduce  everything  to  fig- 
ures, too.    Look  at  this  and  you'll  see  why  it  pays." 

Bob  took  the  paper  and  read  "378  pounds  turtles, 
at  30  cents  per  pound — -$75.60,  less  $2.63  expressage^ — 
$72.97." 

"  But  you  haven't  deducted  anything  for  your  own 
trouble,  Mr.  White,"  said  Bob,  scarcely  able  tO'  believe 
his  eyes.  "  Don't  you  intend  to  charge  anything  for 
selling  them  to  the  hotel  ?  Father  says  every  business 
man  must  make  profit  on  the  things  he  sells,  if  he 
wants  to  keep  in  business." 

"  Well,  Bob,  I'm  not  going  to  charge  you  a  com- 
mission on  this  deal.  I've  had  too  much  fun  already 
sticking  my  friend  Al  here  a  stiff  price  for  the  turtles," 
he  added  laughing. 

"  Don't  think  you've  turned  such  a  clever  trick, 
John,"  replied  his  friend.  "  The  hotel's  only  paying 
about  $40  more  than  you  were  willing  to  pay  your- 
self, and  probably  won't  use  half  of  them  for  our 
dinner.  Besides,  I've  gotten  a  fine  idea  for  my  talk  at 
our  meeting  on  Wednesday  night." 

"What's  that?"  asked  the  banker. 


58  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  Hidden  Treasure,"  replied  his  friend.  "  Why, 
just  look  what's  happened  to  Bob  here  in  two  days. 
On  Saturday  there  was  a  pond  occupying  fifteen  acres 
of  the  best  ground  on  the  farm  and  producing  nothing. 
To-day  he  has  $72.97  and  has  prepared  the  way  for 
the  finest  field  of  corn  that  will  be  raised  this  year  in 
the  county,  if  not  the  state,  and  there's  no  telling  what 
he  may  do  yet  when  he  gets  his  Uncle  Joe  thoroughly 
waked  up,"  he  laughed. 

"  By  the  way.  Bob,  do  you  want  your  money  in 
cash?"  asked  the  banker  looking  at  him  keenly. 

"  If  it's  all  the  same  to  you,  Mr.  White,  I'd  like 
to  leave  it  here  on  deposit,"  replied  Bob. 

"  Put  it  in  the  savings  department,  Bob,"  suggested 
Mr.  Dow,  "  then  you'll  get  interest.  Say,  Bob,"  he 
continued,  "tell  your  Uncle  Joe  I'm  going  to  have  our 
agent  see  him  and  show  him  how  he  can  protect  his 
family  while  he's  paying  for  the  farm." 

"  All  right,  I'll  tell  him,"  Bob  replied. 

When  Bob  drove  into  the  barnyard  just  before 
noon  his  uncle  hurried  over  and  looked  into  the  wagon. 

"Why,  did  he  take  all  the  turtles.  Bob?"  he 
inquired,  surprised  to  find  the  wagon  empty. 

"  Yes,  he  took  them,"  said  Bob,  "  and  sold  them 
right  away  to  the  Fort  Henry  Hotel  in  Pittsburgh.  He 
called  them  up  on  the  long  distance  telephone." 

"  How  much  did  he  pay  you  for  them?  "  was  the 
next  inquiry. 

"  $72.97,"  replied  Bob  proudly. 


SELLING  TURTLES  69 

"What!  for  those  turtles!"  exclaimed  his  uncle. 
"  I  don't  believe  it." 

"  Well,  you  don't  have  to  believe  me,"  Bob  laughed 
as  he  jumped  from  the  wagon.  "  I've  the  proof  here." 
And  he  proudly  exhibited  his  new  bank  book. 

The  look  of  surprise  on  his  uncle's  face  gave  way  to 
one  of  disappointment. 

"  Of  course,  Uncle  Joe,  I  put  the  money  in  the 
bank — I  didn't  want  to  carry  it  around,"  he  added. 

His  uncle  said  nothing  more,  but  turned  on  his  heel 
and  walked  away.  It  was  very  evident  to  Bob  that  he 
had  changed  his  mind  and  expected  him  to  turn  over 
the  proceeds  from  the  sale  of  the  turtles,  but  he  was 
detemiined  that  his  uncle  should  stick  to  his  agreement. 

"  Uncle  Joe,"  he  called,  as  his  uncle  reached  the 
gate.  "  Mr.  White  told  me  to  tell  you  that  the  matter 
you  were  discussing  with  him  was  all  right  and  that 
he  would  be  glad  to  see  you  any  time." 

"  Oh,  he  did,"  said  his  imcle,  turning  and  coming 
back  to  the  wagon,  where  Bob  was  unhitching  the  team. 

"  Yes,  he  did,"  said  Bob,  "  said  he'd  accommodate 
you  any  time  you  were  in  town." 

"  Well,  I'm  glad  you  drove  a  good  bargain  for  the 
sale  of  the  turtles.  Bob,"  remarked  his  uncle,  the  look 
of  disappointment  gone.  "  I  said  they  were  yours  and 
I  want  you  to  know  that  I  still  feel  the  same  way 
about  it." 

"  Thank  you,  Uncle  Joe,"  replied  Bob,  as  he 
started  for  the  barn  with  the  team. 


VI 

SELLING   SAND 

"  Bob,"  said  his  uncle  after  dinner,  as  they  were 
bringing  the  horses  from  the  barn,  "  the  old  pond  looks 
as  though  it  might  take  all  summer  to  dry  out.  Then, 
too,  the  brook  winds  through  the  center  of  it  in  such  a 
way  as  to  really  spoil  the  field  for  farming." 

"  Why  couldn't  we  straighten  the  brook,  Uncle 
Joe,"  asked  Bob,  after  a  moment's  thought,  "  or  move 
it  over  to  the  south  side  against  the  bank  there.  That 
would  make  it  almost  a.  straight  line  between  the  lane 
bridge  and  the  old  forebay." 

*'  But  that  would  make  a  lot  of  work.  Bob,"  replied 
his  uncle,  "  and  we  have  more  now  than  we  have  time 
for.  It  would  be  a  good  idea  though  to  have  the  brook 
on  the  outside  of  the  field;  but  what  bothers  me  most 
is  how  we're  going  to  keep  the  field  from  being  flooded 
every  time  it  rains." 

To  this  Bob  made  no  reply. 

All  afternoon,  as  they  were  hauling  manure  tO'  the 
field,  he  kept  turning  over  in  his  mind  the  question  of 
straightening  the  brook,  for  it  was  now  evident  that  in 
order  to  make  the  field  a  success  the  brook  would  not 
only  have  to  be  straightened  but  moved  over  to  the 
south  side,  so  as  to  have  the  field  all  in  one  piece.  He 
realized  now  that  the  easiest  part  of  redeeming  the  pond 

6« 


SELLING  SAND  61 

had  been  the  letting  out  of  the  water,  and  also  that 
his  uncle  was  right  in  saying  that  it  might  take  all 
summer  for  the  bottom  to  dry  out  sufficiently  for 
planting. 

Bob  had  persuaded  his  uncle  to  let  him  stop  work 
in  the  afternoon  at  four-thirty  in  order  to  have  time 
to  do  the  milking  and  chores,  and  he  found  that  by 
hurrjang  he  could  get  through  before  six  o'clock.  So 
that  night  in  the  early  twilight,  he  paced  off  the  length 
of  the  south  side  of  the  pond  and  found  it  was  approx- 
imately seven  hundred  feet  from  the  bridge  to  the  fore- 
bay.  He  remembered  that,  except  on  rare  occasions, 
the  opening  between  the  abutments  of  the  bridge  that 
carried  the  lane  over  the  brook  had  always  been  suf- 
ficient to  take  care  of  any  water.  He  now  measured 
this  space  and  found  that  the  abutments  were  eighteen 
feet  apart  and  from  the  under  side  of  the  timbers  to 
the  bed  of  the  brook  it  was  four  feet  six  inches.  He 
returned  to  the  house  and  got  out  his  notebook  and 
began  making  some  calculations.  He  found  the  area 
of  the  space  under  the  bridge  to  be  eighty-one  square 
feet.  If  they  could  dig  a  ditch  back  a  few  feet  from 
the  south  bank  of  the  pond,  where  the  ground  rose 
sharply,  and  throw  the  excavated  earth  on  the  north 
side  of  the  cut,  they  would  have  a  channel  with  two 
good  banks  at  the  expense  of  making  only  one. 

By  pacing  off  eighteen  feet  of  the  bank,  he  had 
found  that  the  slope  of  the  ground  would  average 
about  two  feet  for  that  distance.     The  depth  of  the 


62  HroDEN  TREASURE 

water  along  the  bank  on  the  south  side  had  been 
about  two  feet.  By  digging  three  feet  below  the  level 
of  the  bottom  of  the  pond  it  would  mean  an  average 
cut  of  six  feet.  Taking  out  a  block  of  earth  approxi- 
mately eighteen  feet  by  six  feet,  or"  one  hundred  and 
eight  square  feet,  would  raise  the  banks  high  enough 
to  allow  for  heavy  freshets,  and  the  bottom  of  the 
ditch,  being  three  feet  below  the  bottom  of  the  pond, 
would  allow  for  drainage. 

He  now  calculated  the  amount  of  earth  to  be 
removed  and  found  there  would  be  twenty-eight  hun- 
dred cubic  yards  to  be  dug  and  piled  up  to  form  the 
new  north  bank  of  the  cut.  He  had  no  idea  how  much 
time  it  would  require  to  do  this  work,  or  what  it 
might  cost  if  they  hired  a  man  to  do  it  for  them. 
After  sitting  for  a  few  minutes  debating  the  matter, 
he  became  so  sleepy  that  he  put  his  notebook  in  his 
pocket  and  went  to  bed. 

"  How  long  will  it  take  you  to  dig  a  cubic  yard 
of  earth  and  pile  it  out  on  one  side  of  a  ditch,  Uncle 
Joe?  "  asked  Bob  the  next  morning  at  the  breakfast 
table. 

"  I  don't  know,  Bob.    Why  do  you  ask?  " 

"  I  wanted  to  find  out  how  much  it  would  cost  to 
straighten  the  brook  in  our  new  bottom  field,"  he 
replied. 

"  Well,  I  know  one  thing,"  said  his  uncle,  "  and 
that  is  that  it  will  cost  more  than  I  can  afford  to  spend ; 
and  you  knew,  Bob,  we  have  no  time  for  digging 


SELLING  SAND  63 

ditches  ourselves — in  fact,  it  seems  to  me  it  was  a  great 
mistake  to  drain  the  pond  at  all — the  water  at  least 
covered  the  bad-smelling  bottom,  and  we  could  shoot 
an  occasional  wild  duck  there." 

"I'm  not  so  sure  about  it  being  too  expensive," 
replied  Bob.  "  Mr.  White  said  yesterday  that  it  didn't 
matter  so  much  what  an  improvement  cost,  if  it  could 
be  made  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  investment  and  earn 
a  profit  beside.  All  I  need  to  know  now  to  complete 
my  figures  is  how  much  earth  a  man  can  dig  and  then 
I  can  tell  how  much  it  would  cost." 

"If  you  want  to  know  so  badly,  Bob,  why  don't 
you  take  a  pick  and  shovel  and  dig  out  a  yard,  and 
find  out  for  yourself,"  suggested  his  grandmother. 

"  Yes,"  said  his  uncle,  "  then  you'd  know  what 
a  real  backache  feels  like." 

"  All  right,"  said  Bob,  "  when  may  I  do  it?  "  turn- 
ing to  his  uncle. 

"  Well,  I  suppose  you  might  as  well  do  it  this 
morning  as  any  time,"  said  his  uncle.  "  I  know  you 
won't  be  able  to  sleep  to-night  until  you  find  out ;  be- 
sides, I'm  going  to  town  and  you  can  have  the  fore- 
noon off." 

"  That'll  be  fine,  Uncle  Joe,"  said  Bob,  "  and  there's 
another  thing  too,  I  wanted  to  ask  you.  I  see  wagons 
hauling  sand  and  gravel  from  our  pit.  Who  collects 
the  money  and  how  much  do  you  charge  them  ?  " 

"  Charge  a  neighbor  for  a  few  loads  of  sand.  Bob? 
What  are  you  talking  about?    Of  course  not." 


64  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  But  if  you  went  to^  their  farms,  Uncle  Joe,  and 
asked  for  the  rich  soil  out  of  their  fields,  they'd  make 
you  pay  for  it." 

"  Why,  of  course,  Bob,  but  rich  soil  and  sand  and 
gravel  are  different.  There's  plenty  of  sand  and 
gravel." 

"Where,  Uncle  Joe?" 

"  Oh,  everywhere." 

"Then  if  that's  so,"  said  Bob,  "why  did  Dan 
McCormick  send  his  three  wagons  four  miles  to  our 
pit  last  week  ?  He  said  it  was  the  nearest  sand  tO'  his 
farm  and  what's  more  he  said  it's  the  only  clean  sand 
and  gravel  that  don't  need  washing  for  fifteen  miles 
around.  I  think  we  ought  to  charge  them  so  much  a 
yard." 

"  All  right,  Bob,"  said  his  uncle,  whose  mind  was 
evidently  occupied  with  things  more  important  than 
selling  sand.  "  You  go  ahead  and  make  them  pay,  but 
remember,  if  you  don't  have  any  friends  among  your 
neighbors,  don't  blame  me." 

When  his  uncle  returned  from  town  a  little  after 
twelve  o'clock,  he  drove  down  to  see  what  Bob  was 
doing,  and  found  him  at  work  on  the  ditch.  As  soon 
as  Bob  saw  his  uncle's  face,  he  knew  he  had  received 
his  loan  from  Mr.  White,  for  he  was  smiling  and 
seemed  to  be  very  happy. 

"  Well,  Bob,  how  are  you  making  out  ?  "  he  called 
cheerily,  as  he  approached,  looking  at  the  excavated 
dirt  thrown  out.     Then  his  eye  caught  a  double  line 


SELLING  SAND  65 

of  stakes  set  at  intervals  and  running  the  full  length 
of  the  pond,  marking  out  the  two  sides  of  the  cut. 

"  I  dug  out  one  cubic  yard  in  forty  minutes,  Uncle 
Joe,  but  we  could  do  much  better  with  a  team  of  horses 
and  a  plow  and  scoop.  Allowing  thirty  cents  per  hour, 
the  ditch  would  cost  eight  hundred  and  forty  dollars." 

"  Whee,"  said  his  uncle,  "  more  than  we  could  ever 
afford  to  pay.  Bob,  I'm  afraid,  even  though  Mr.  White 
is  in  favor  of  it  and  agreed  to-day  to  loan  me  what- 
ever it  would  cost." 

^'Oh,  then  you  told  him  about  it?"  said  Bob. 
"How  did  he  like  the  scheme?  " 

"  He  said  it  was  a  first-rate  idea,  Bob.  He  also 
said  we  should  lay  tile  field  drain  through  the  bottom 
of  the  pond  to  the  ditch  every  fifty  feet  over  the  entire 
field.  These  would  soon  drain  the  bottom  and  keep 
the  new  field  dry." 

"  I've  been  wondering,"  said  Bob,  "  what  we  could 
do  about  draining  the  bottom,  but  I  didn't  think  of  tile, 
although  it  sounds  like  a  good  idea." 

And  Bob  took  out  his  notebook  and  figured  for  a 
few  minutes. 

"If  we  put  them  fifty  feet  apart,  that  would  mean 
twelve  rows ;  each  row  would  be  six  hundred  feet  long 
— that  would  mean  7200  lineal  feet.  Did  Mr.  White 
say  what  the  tile  would  be  worth  a  foot,  laid.  Uncle 
Joe?" 

"  No,  he  didn't,  Bob,  and  I  was  too  busy  to  ask 
him." 

5 


66  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  What  would  you  say,  Uncle  Joe,"  remarked  Bob 
a  few  minutes  later,  "  if  I  were  to  tell  you  we  can  get 
the  ditch  dug,  a  new  dam  built  across  between  the  two 
banks  down  by  the  beech  trees,  and  a  road  cut  up  the 
west  slope  by  the  barn,  so  as  to  get  rid  of  that  steep 
hill,  and  we  won't  have  to  spend  one  cent." 

"  What  nonsense  are  you  talking?  "  demanded  his 
uncle.  "You  just  said  it  would  cost  eight  hundred 
and  forty  dollars  to  dig  the  ditch  alone." 

"  So  it  would,  Uncle  Joe,  if  we  dug  it  by  hand.  We 
could  probably  do  it  quicker  if  we  used  a  team  of  horses 
and  scoop,  but,  of  course,  we'd  have  to  allow  for  the 
value  of  the  team  while  it  was  doing  the  work,  and, 
besides,  it  would  take  too  long." 

"  Well,  then,  how'd  it  be  done?  "  asked  his  uncle, 
interested  in  spite  of  himself,  for  after  his  interview 
with  the  president  of  the  First  National  that  morning 
he  began  to  look  upon  Bob  as  something  more  than 
a  chore  boy. 

"  Come  over  to  the  sand  pit  with  me,  Uncle  Joe," 
he  replied,  "  and  I'll  show  you." 

Together  they  walked  over  to  the  pit  and  the  first 
thing  that  caught  his  uncle's  eye  was  a  large  sign : 

Sand  and  Gravel  for  Sale 

Price  50c  per  cu.  yd. 

Cash  or  Labor 

Inquire  Robert  Williams 

"  Well,  what  does  it  mean?  "  asked  his  uncle,  read- 
ing the  sign  for  the  second  time. 


SELLING  SAND  67 

"  It  means,  Uncle  Joe,  that  while  I  was  still  nailing 
up  that  sign  two  men  came  along  in  a  big  gray  touring 
car  and  stopped,  and  one  of  them  wanted  tO'  know 
what  we'd  take  for  the  pit.  I  told  him  we  sold  our 
eggs  by  the  dozen  and  not  by  what  a  hen  might  lay  in 
a  year.  He  laughed  and  said  his  name  was  Brady 
and  that  he  had  a  contract  for  building  some  bridges 
for  the  new  railroad  that's  coming  in  three  miles  down 
the  creek  and  needed  sand  and  gravel.  The  gentleman 
with  him,  who  I  judged  from  what  they  said  was 
the  engineer  for  the  railroad,  seemed  to  be  very  much 
pleased  with  the  kind  of  sand  and  gravel  we  had,  and 
I  heard  him  tell  Mr.  Brady  he'd  approve  it  for  the 
work.  After  looking  the  pit  over,  Mr.  Brady  asked 
what  was  meant  by  *  Cash  or  Labor,'  so  I  told  him  we 
had  some  work  we  wanted  done  and  would  be  willing 
to  have  him  give  us  an  estimate  on  the  cost.  He  asked 
me  what  it  was  and  I  told  him  it  was  a  ditch,  a  dam 
and  a  road.  So  he  went  up  and  looked  the  ditch  over, 
then  we  went  down  to  the  beech  trees  and  I  explained 
to  him  about  the  new  dam  we  were  going  to  put  in 
there  to  generate  electric  light  for  the  farm.  Then 
we  rode  up  to  the  west  slope  in  his  big  touring  car  and 
he  examined  the  bank  there.  I  showed  him  my  figures 
for  the  ditch,  and  he  made  a  memorandum  of  them; 
then  he  said  if  we  would  let  him  have  the  exclusive  use 
of  the  sand  pit  for  one  year,  taking  out  as  much  sand 
as  he  needed,  and  also  let  him  have  the  heavy  timbers 
from  the  old  mill,  as  he  needed  them  for  some  shoring 


68  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

he  had  to  do,  he  would  be  willing  to  tear  down  the  old 
mill,  dig  our  ditch,  build  us  a  new  dam  and  a  new  road, 
using  his  caterpillar  steam  shovel  for  the  work." 

"  What  did  you  say,  Bob? "  eagerly  asked  his 
uncle. 

"  I  told  him  we  couldn't  think  of  it,"  replied  Bob 
with  a  grin. 

"What!  You  didn't  take  him  up?  What  could 
you  have  been  thinking  of,  Bob?  " 

"  Well,  you  see,  Uncle  Joe,  we'll  need  a  lot  of  sand 
and  gravel  ourselves  for  making  concrete  fence  posts 
and  things  like  that,  and  then  we  may  want  to  build 
a  concrete  road  from  the  main  road  up  to  the  barn,  and, 
of  course,  we  need  a  new  dairy  house  and  big  silo." 

*'  Yes,  I  know.  Bob ;  the  old  place  is  pretty  well 
run  down,"  said  his  uncle.  "  Mr.  White  said  some- 
thing to-day  about  looking  ahead  and  making  per- 
manent improvements,  but  we  can't  think  of  doing  that 


now." 


"  I'm  not  so  sure  about  that.  Uncle  Joe,"  replied 
Bob.  "  It  seems  we've  got  the  only  sand  and  gravel 
pit  within  fifteen  miles  with  sand  and  gravel  that  the 
railroad  engineer  will  accept  for  his  work.  I  over- 
heard him  say  that  to  Mr.  Brady." 

"  Well,  what  did  you  finally  do  about  the  sand. 
Bob  ?  "  inquired  his  uncle  eagerly. 

"  I  told  him  the  price  was  fifty  cents  per  cubic  yard 
in  the  pit,  but  we  would  let  him  pay  for  it  in  work,  if 
his  prices  for  the  work  were  not  too  high,  so  he's  going 


SELLING  SAND  60 

to  make  up  a  figure  and  come  back  and  see  us.  I  told 
him  I  thought  you'd  be  willing  to  let  him  have  the  tim- 
ber from  the  mill  if  he  would  take  off  the  boards  and 
two  by  fours  and  haul  them  over  to  the  sand  pit  for 
us.  You  know,  Uncle  Joe,  these  will  come  in  handy 
for  us  to  build  a  shed  when  we  start  to  make  fence 
posts  and  other  things  there." 

"  But  will  he  need  enough  sand  to  pay  for  all  this 
work,  Bob?  "  asked  his  uncle,  now  greatly  excited. 

"  Yes,  I'm  sure  he'll  need  more,  for  he  seemed  to 
be  anxious  to  buy  the  pit  outright." 

"He  did!" 

"  Yes,  he  did,  but  I  told  him  we  were  not  willing 
to  sell  it,  Uncle  Joe;  that  we  expected  to  put  up  a  lot 
of  concrete  buildings  on  the  farm  besides  building  some 
concrete  roads  and  making  a  lot  of  concrete  fence 
posts." 

"  Well,  Bob,  I  guess  you  did  a  good  half  day's 
work  all  right,"  said  his  uncle,  "  and  to  show  you  that 
I  appreciate  the  way  you've  handled  this  matter,  I'll 
let  you  make  the  deal  with  Brady  when  he  comes 
back." 

They  didn't  have  long  to  wait,  for  about  three 
o'clock  that  afternoon  a  big  gray  touring  car  came 
snorting  up  the  steep  hill  back  of  the  barn  and  stopped 
near  where  they  were  loading  manure.  The  driver  of 
the  car  got  out  and  came  over  to  them. 

"  This  is  the  Uncle  Joe,  I  was  telling  you  about,  Mr. 


70  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

Brady,"  said  Bob,  by  way  of  introduction,  as  the  con- 
tractor came  up  to  them. 

"  Glad  to  know  you,  Mr.  WilHams.  I  came  up  to 
see  you  about  buying  your  sand  pit.  What  will  you 
take  for  it  in  cash?  I  haven't  a  great  deal  of  time 
to  lose,  so  I  brought  the  money  with  me,"  and  he  drew 
from  his  pocket  the  largest  roll  of  bills  that  Bob  had 
ever  seen  in  his  life. 

"  You'll  have  to — to — talk  it  over  with  Bob,"  hesi- 
tated Bob's  uncle,  for  at  the  sight  of  so  much  ready 
money  he  began  to  waver  in  his  resolutions  to  let  Bob 
handle  the  matter. 

"  We  don't  want  to  sell  it.  Mr.  Brady,"  spoke  up 
Bob  quickly.  "  We  want  to  control  the  pit  ourselves 
and  have  sand  and  gravel  for  our  own  use." 

"  Oh,  that's  all  right.  I'll  let  you  have  all  you  want 
for  your  own  use,  free  of  cost,  too,"  said  Mr.  Brady 
quickly. 

"  No,"  said  Bob.  "  This  is  the  only  sand  and  gravel 
pit  around  here,  and,  when  they  start  building  con- 
crete roads  in  this  county,  which  they  may  do  any  time 
now,  this  pit  will  be  valuable." 

"  Say,  son,"  said  the  contractor,  "  you're  wasting 
your  time  on  a  farm.  You  ought  to  be  with  me  in  the 
contracting  business.  Who's  been  telling  you  about 
this  new  county  road  work?  " 

"  No  one's  been  telling  me,"  said  Bob,  "  but  every- 
one can  see  it  doesn't  pay  to  haul  heavy  loads  over 
rough  roads  to  market  your  crops,  and  as  for  farm- 


'  WELL,  SON,  let's  GET  DOWN  TO  BUSINESS.     I  SEE  YOU'KE 
WISE  ALL  RIGHT  TO  THE  VALUE  OF  THAT  PIT" 


SELLING  SAND  71 

ing,"  he  added,  "  it's  a  good  business,  too,  Mr.  Brady, 
especially  if  you  have  a  good  sand  pit  on  the  place," 
he  added  laughing. 

"  Well,  son,  let's  get  down  to  business.  I  see  you're 
wise  all  right  to  the  value  of  that  pit.  How  much 
work  do  you  want  me  to  do  and  how  much  money 
will  you  want  me  to  give  you,  and  who's  going  to  keep 
account  of  the  sand  we  get  and  when  do  we  settle 
for  it?" 

''  You  said  you  had  a  steam  shovel,  Mr,  Brady," 
said  Bob.  "  Is  it  busy  now  ?  We  want  to  get  this 
bottom  land  ready  for  corn  this  year." 

"  Not  doing  anything  at  the  present  time;  can  start 
your  work  next  week  for  the  shovel's  on  the  railroad 
siding  at  Indiana  now,"  he  replied  quickly. 

"  What  do  you  charge  a  day  for  use  of  shovel  with 
a  man  to  operate  it?  "  asked  Bob. 

"  Hold  on  there,  son;  you'll  get  to  be  as  smart  as 
I  am  if  you  keep  on  at  that  rate.  I  don't  rent  the  shovel 
by  the  day,  but  I'll  tell  you  what :  I'll  do  your  work 
on  contract." 

"  All  right,"  said  Bob.  "  How  much  do  you  want 
for  digging  the  ditch?  " 

"  $700,"  said  Mr.  Brady,  consulting  a  memor- 
andum. 

"  And  how  much  for  building  the  dam?  " 

"  $200  without  a  concrete  spillway  and  sluice  gate 
and  $350  more  with  them." 

"  And  how  much  for  the  road  up  the  west  slope?  " 


72  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  Well,  that  won't  cost  you  much,  son ;  that's  an 
easier  job  than  it  looks.  I'll  charge  you  only  $ioo  for 
doing  that.    That  would  make  $1350  total." 

"  Yes,"  replied  Bob,  setting  down  the  amount  in 
his  own  memorandum  book.  ''  How  much  sand  will 
you  need,  Mr.  Brady?  " 

The  contractor  took  a  memorandum  book  from  his 
pocket  and  consulted  it  for  a  moment. 

"  About  ten  to  fifteen  thousand  yards  of  sand  and 
gravel  together  on  my  first  contract,  but  I  expect  to 
have  a  contract  for  building  roads  pretty  soon  that 
will  require  more  than  double  that." 

At  the  mention  of  these  figures,  Bob  exchanged 
glances  with  his  uncle,  who  had  with  difficulty  kept  to 
his  agreement  to  let  Bob  make  the  bargain,  and  he 
fairly  gasped  when  he  began  to  realize  the  earning 
capacity  of  the  old  sand  pit. 

''  I  think  you're  charging  me  too  much  money,  son, 
for  the  sand  and  gravel.  You  ought  to  knock  off  five 
or  ten  cents  per  yard  and  give  me  exclusive  right  to 
the  pit." 

"  No,"  said  Bob,  "  we're  not  willing  to  do  that, 
but  we  will  make  this  bargain  with  you,  Mr.  Brady:  if 
you  will  do  our  work  for  us  right  away,  we'll  agree 
not  to  charge  you  more  than  fifty  cents  a  cubic  yard 
for  as  much  sand  and  gravel  as  you  want." 

Seeing  there  was  no'  other  way  out  of  the  matter, 
the  contractor  finally  consented  to  this  arrangement. 

"  I'm  not  much  on  verbal  contracts,"  he  said,  "  for 


SELLING  SAND  73 

I  find  that  people  who  do  not  set  down  in  black  and 
white  what  they  agree  to  do,  often  forget  and  then 
there's  trouble,  so  if  you  don't  mind,  Mr.  Williams, 
we'll  step  into  the  house  and  put  our  agreement  in 
writing." 

'*  How  shall  w^e  arrange  to  keep  account  of  the 
amount  of  materials  I  get?  "  asked  Mr.  Brady,  as  they 
started  for  the  house. 

''  How  do  you  usually  do?  "  asked  Bob. 

"I've  got  some  tickets  with  my  name  on  them,"  re- 
plied the  contractor,  "  and  every  time  a  man  takes  away 
a  load  he  gives  one  of  those  tickets  to  the  man  in  charge 
of  the  pit.  By  the  way,  I  suppose  there'll  be  some  one 
in  charge  who  can  take  care  of  these  tickets?  " 

**  Yes,"  said  Bob  quickly,  before  his  uncle  had  a 
chance  to  speak.  "  We're  going  to  start  a  man  making 
fence  posts  at  the  pit  next  week  and  you  can  give  the 
tickets  to  him." 

A  few  minutes  after  they  had  sat  down  at  the 
table  in  the  sitting  room  Mr.  Brady  handed  the  agree- 
ment to  Bob's  uncle  to  read.  He  read  it  over  and  then 
handed  it  to  Bob,  who  read  it  over  twice,  very  careful, 
and  then  laid  it  down  on  the  table. 

"  It  reads  all  right,  Mr.  Brady,  and  seems  to  be 
just  what  we  agreed  to  do,"  said  Bob,  "  but  before  we 
sign  it  I'd  like  to  show  it  to  Mr.  White,  president  of 
the  First  National  Bank." 

"  All  right,  son,  just  as  you  like,"  said  the  contrac- 
tor, a  look  of  disappointment  on  his  face  as  he  put  his 


74  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

fountain  pen  in  his  pocket.  "  I'll  be  here  on  Monday 
with  my  men  and  outfit,  for  I'm  sure  Mr.  White  will 
find  the  agreement  is  all  right." 

"  I  think  it  is  myself,"  said  Bob,  "  but  I'd  like  to 
have  him  read  it  over  anyway  before  it's  signed." 

As  they  walked  out  to  the  barnyard,  where  his  car 
was  standing,  the  contractor  turned  to  Joe  Williams 
and  asked : 

"  How  do  you  manage  to  get  up  and  down  that 
steep  hill  with  your  automobile,  Mr.  Williams?" 

"  Oh,  I  don't  have  an  automobile,"  Williams 
replied. 

"  What !  no  car?  "  exclaimed  Mr.  Brady.  "  I  don't 
see  how  your  women  folks  get  along  without  one. 
Cars  are  so  low  and  horses  so  high  nowadays,  it  don't 
pay  to  take  a  horse  out  of  a  busy  team  to  drive  to 
town.  I  should  think  you  couldn't  do  without  one. 
Well,  good  day,"  he  added,  as  he  climbed  into  his  car 
and  threw  on  the  self-starter.    "  See  you  next  week." 


VII 

THE   NEW   AUNT 

The  following-  week  was  a  very  busy  and  eventful 
one  for  Bob.  Plowing  time  was  rapidly  approaching, 
and  his  uncle  was  anxious  to  have  all  the  manure  placed 
on  the  fields  ready  to  start  work  early;  besides,  they 
had  taken  a  day  off  at  Bob's  urging  to  prune  the  young 
orchard.  On  Thursday  he  received  a  large  package  of 
Farm  Bulletins  from  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
at  Washington,  in  reply  to  a  postcard  he  had  sent.  He 
had  only  time  for  a  hasty  glance  through  them,  before 
having  to  lay  them  away  for  careful  reading  later. 

On  Friday  his  uncle  turned  over  the  team  to  him, 
saying  he  was  going  to  town  for  the  day.  Bob  noticed 
that  he  had  dressed  up  in  his  best  clothes,  so  was  not 
surprised  when  he  came  in  from  work  late  that  after- 
noon to  find  they  had  company  at  the  house. 

*'  Come  here,  Bob,"  called  his  uncle  cheerily,  as  he 
entered.  "  I  want  you  to  meet  your  new  Aunt  Bettie. 
She  isn't  exactly  your  aunt  yet,  but  she  will  be  soon." 

Bob  hastened  forward  to  take  the  oustretched  hand 
of  the  woman  who  rose  to  greet  him. 

Bob  had  a  quick  eye  for  beauty ;  he  noted  the  fair, 
soft  complexion  which  the  rich  dark  hair  set  off  so 
beautifully,  but  not  this  alone  made  the  strong  and  con- 
scious appeal  to  him — it  was  the  frank  manner  with 

75 


76  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

which  she  took  his  hand  and  the  friendly  light  in  her 
lovely  brown  eyes  that  won  Bob  completely. 

"  So'  this  is  '  Bob,'  of  whom  you  have  been  telling 
me,"  said  Miss  Atwood.  "  I'm  certainly  glad  to  make 
your  acquaintance,  Bob.  Your  Uncle  Joe  has  been  tell- 
ing me  many  things  about  you,  and  I  know  we're  going 
to  be  fast  friends  and  have  lots  of  fun  together  on  the 
farm  this  summer." 

"  I  hope  so,"  said  Bob,  "  for  I  like  farming  better 
than  anything  I  know;  there  are  so  many  interesting 
things  tO'  see  and  do." 

"  I'm  glad  to  hear  you  say  that,  Bob,"  she  replied. 
"  In  these  days,  when  most  boys  of  your  age  want  to 
be  in  the  town  and  cities,  it's  refreshing  to  find  one 
who  has  vision  enough  to  appreciate  the  golden  oppor- 
tunities of  the  country.  Your  Uncle  Joe  doesn't  know 
it,  but  I've  been  doing  considerable  reading  myself 
about  farm  life  and  farm  work  since  we  became 
engaged,  and  the  more  I  read  the  more  enthusiastic  I 
become,  and  I'm  sure  we're  going  to  have  lots  of  pleas- 
ant days  and  evenings,  too,  together." 

"  Have  you  been  reading  farm  bulletins,  also.  Aunt 
Bettie?  "  Bob  asked  hesitating,  as  he  used  her  new  title 
for  the  first  time. 

*'  That's  right,  I  want  you  to  call  me  '  Aunt  Bet- 
tie',"  she  replied  quickly,  seeing  his  embarrassment. 
"  Yes,  I've  gotten  a  great  many  bulletins  from  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  at  Washington  and  have 
read  them  over  and  over  very  carefully.     The  oppor- 


THE  NEW  AUNT  77 

tunities  on  a  farm,  if  one  just  keeps  his  eyes  open,  are 
certainly  wonderful." 

"  I'd  like  to  read  your  bulletins,  too,"  said  Bob, 
his  eyes  sparkling. 

''  I  thought  you  were  going  to  give  up  teaching 
school,  Bettie,"  interrupted  her  intended  husband,  "  and 
here  you  and  Bob  are  getting  ready  to  start  one.  First 
thing  you  know,  you'll  be  getting  another  scholar,  one 
six  feet  tall,"  and  he  laughed  down  at  her. 

"  Well,  frankly,  Joe,"  she  replied,  "  you  might 
spend  your  evenings  less  profitably  than  reading  bulle- 
tins and  other  interesting  papers  on  making  farms 
pay." 

"  Guess  I'll  have  to  get  in  line,"  he  replied  laughing. 
"  Bob's  been  preaching  to  me  ever  since  he  came  here 
about  modernizing  the  old  farm  and  digging  up  our 
*  Hidden  Treasure,'  as  he  calls  it." 

"  You'll  have  to  excuse  me  now.  Aunt  Bettie,"  said 
Bob,  "  for  it's  milking  time  and  I  always  plan  to  milk 
our  cows  regularly." 

His  heart  was  light  and  he  whistled  a  merry  tune 
as  he  started  for  the  bam,  the  milk  pails  on  his  arm. 
He  now  felt  sure  that  this  summer  was  going  to  be 
the  happiest  one  he  had  ever  spent. 

After  the  supper  dishes  had  been  cleared  away,  they 
sat  together  and  talked  of  the  things  to  be  done  to  im- 
prove the  farm  and  which  would  be  the  best  crops  to 
plant.  As  the  discussion  continued.  Joe  Williams 
began  to  realize  that  both  Bettie  and  Bob  knew  many 


78  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

things  about  farming  of  which  he  was  ignorant — 
things  which,  he  reluctantly  admitted  to  himself,  were 
of  the  utmost  importance. 

On  Saturday  they  quit  work  at  noon  to  go  to  town. 
Bob  asked  his  imcle  if  he  were  going  to  take  Mr. 
Brady's  contract  and  show  it  to  Mr.  White,  the  banker. 

"  The  bank  closes  at  noon  on  Saturdays,  Bob," 
replied  his  uncle,  "  and  we're  to  be  pretty  busy,  Bettie 
and  I,  buying  our  things,  for  we're  getting  new  furni- 
ture for  the  house,  and  I  want  to  bring  it  back  with 
me." 

"  Perhaps  Mr.  White  doesn't  go  out  of  town  on 
Saturday  and  I  could  find  him  at  his  home,"  said  Bob. 
"  I  think  we  ought  to  have  the  matter  settled  before 
Mr.  Brady  gets  here  on  Monday  morning  with  his  tools. 
It  might  make  some  difference  if  he  started  work 
before  the  agreement  is  signed." 

"  All  right.  Bob,  you  take  the  contract  and  try  to 
find  him.  I'll  be  too  busy  loading  the  furniture  to 
bother  with  it." 

So  as  soon  as  he  arrived  in  town,  Bob  left  the 
wagon  in  front  of  the  furniture  store  where  his  uncle, 
who  had  driven  in  with  Miss  Atwood  in  the  buggy, 
was  waiting.  He  hurried  over  to  the  First  National 
Bank.  The  bank  seemed  to  be  closed,  but  the  entrance 
door  was  unlocked,  and  after  some  time  he  found  the 
banker  in  the  directors'  room  going  over  some  papers. 

"  Back  already  for  your  money.  Bob  ?  "  laughed  the 
banker,  as  he  opened  the  door  to  admit  him. 


THE  NEW  AUNT  79 

"  No,  Mr.  White,  I  haven't  yet  found  a  better 
investment  for  the  money.  I  came  to  see  you  about 
our  sand  pit.  A  Mr.  Brady,  who  says  he  has  the 
contract  to  build  some  bridges  for  the  new  railroad, 
wants  to  buy  our  sand  and  we  have  made  a  bargain 
with  him  and  he  put  it  in  writing.  We  didn't  sign  it, 
for  while  it  seems  to  be  all  right.  Uncle  Joe  would  like 
to  have  you  look  it  over  first." 

"  Oh,  indeed,"  replied  the  banker,  "  and  whose  idea 
was  it  that  I  should  read  the  contract  before  signing?  " 

"  Well,"  hesitated  Bob,  "  we  thought  maybe  it 
would  be  better  to  be  sure  it  was  all  right  since  you're 
loaning  Uncle  Joe  money  for  the  farm." 

"That's  right.  Bob;  that's  only  fair.  Follow  out 
that  principle  and  you'll  always  get  along." 

He  took  the  paper  and  read  it  through  carefully 
and  laid  it  down.  Then  he  reflected  a  moment,  picked 
it  up  and  read  it  again.    Then  he  whistled  softly. 

"  You're  right,  Bob,  in  bringing  this  to  me,"  he 
said,  tapping  the  top  of  the  table  thoughtfully  with 
the  end  of  his  pencil.  "  That  contract  is  very  well 
written. 

"  You  see.  Bob,"  said  the  banker,  laying  the  docu- 
ment on  the  table,  "  this  contract  would  be  all  right  if 
you  were  sure  you  had  enough  sand  and  gravel  to 
supply  Mr.  Brady'g  wants,  but  you  will  notice  that  he 
does  not  specify  how  much  material  he  expected  to  use, 
nor  does  he  state  when  he  will  require  it,  and  if  he  took 
a  notion  to  measure  all  the  sand  you  have  in  the  pit 


80  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

and  issue  a  receipt  for  it,  he  could  take  it  and  let  it  lie 
on  your  ground  for  re-sale ;  he  could  do  that  under  this 
agreement.  Also,  if  you  didn't  have  as  much  material 
as  he  wanted,  he  could  compel  you  to  supply  him.  from 
other  sources  at  the  rate  of  fifty  cents  a  yard." 

"  Well,  what  had  we  better  do  about  it,  Mr.  White?" 
inquired  Bob.  "  Mr.  Brady's  going  to  go  to  work  on 
the  ditch  on  Monday  morning.  He's  setting  up  his 
caterpillar  steam  shovel  now  and  getting  ready." 

"  Wait  a  moment,"  said  the  banker,  as  he  pressed 
the  button.  "  I'll  see  if  my  stenographer  has  gone. 
She  usually  leaves  at  noon,  but  to-day  I  had  some 
extra  work  that  she  stayed  to  finish — no,  here  she 
comes — we'll  have  it  re-written." 

"  Will  you  kindly  make  two  copies  of  this  agree- 
ment, Miss  Brown?"  asked  the  banker. 

"  You  see.  Bob,  there  should  always  be  two  copies 
of  all  agreements — one  for  yourself  and  one  for  the 
other  party  to  the  contract.  It  is  always  best  to  have 
all  agreements  in  duplicate." 

"  You  see.  Bob,"  said  the  banker,  as  he  finished 
dictating,  "  I've  added  a  time  limit  to  the  contract.  A 
year  from  now,  when  I  hope  they  will  begin  making 
concrete  county  roads,  your  sand  and  gravel,  if  the 
supply  holds  out,  ought  to  be  worth  at  least  $i.oo  per 
cubic  yard." 

"  I  had  no  idea  sand  and  gravel  were  so  valuable/' 
said  Bob. 

"  Well,    I've   been   looking   the  matter   up   a   bit 


THE  NEW  AUNT  81 

lately,"  replied  the  banker,  "  and  I  wouldn't  be  sur- 
prised if  you  could  get  that  price  for  it  a  year  from 
now — maybe  before  that  even.  There  isn't  a  great 
deal  of  good  sand  and  gravel  in  the  entire  county — 
certainly  none  that  is  as  good  as  yours.  If  you've 
something  else  you'd  like  to  do,  Bob,  you  may  stop 
around  in  an  hour  or  so  and  get  these  contracts.  I'll 
read  them  over  after  Miss  Brown  has  them  finished, 
and  put  my  O.  K.  on  them.  I  may  not  be  here  when 
you  return." 

Bob  hastened  to  the  store  to  impart  the  informa- 
tion he  had  obtained  to  his  uncle,  but  found  him  so 
busy  loading  the  farm  wagon  with  his  new  purchases 
that  Bob  had  to  explain  the  matter  to  him  several  times 
before  he  seemed  to  understand. 

At  four  o'clock  Bob  returned  to  the  bank  and 
received  the  corrected  copies  from  the  president,  who 
was  still  there. 

"  How  much  do  we  owe  you,  Mr.  White,  for  doing 
this  for  us?  "  asked  Bob. 

"  Oh,  I  don't  think  I'll  charge  you  anything  for 
this.  Bob,  although  it  is  worth  something  tO'  know  how 
to  do  a  thing  right,  but  since  I've  decided  to  make  our 
bank  the  headquarters  for  farmers,  we  expect  to  do 
little  things  like  this  for  our  friends,  so  you're  wel- 
come to  whatever  the  service  is  worth." 

"  Well,  I'm  sure  we  didn't  expect  you  to  do  it  for 
nothing,"  replied  Bob,  "  and  I  know  Uncle  Joe  will 
be  pleased  that  you  fixed  it  up  for  him." 

0 


82  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  By  the  way,  Bob,"  said  the  banker,  "  you  might 
tell  your  uncle  that  there's  going  to  be  a  sale  of  some 
purebred  and  grade  Holstein  cattle  next  week  on  a 
farm  in  the  southern  part  of  the  county,  and  that  I'd 
like  to  have  him  bid  them  in.  There  are  ten  young 
cows  and  a  fine  bull — just  the  kind  he  should  have 
to  start  a  herd  on  his  farm." 

At  the  mention  of  the  purebreds,  Bob's  eyes 
sparkled,  but  after  reflecting  a  moment  he  replied : 

"  Uncle  Joe' 11  not  have  money  enough  to  buy  any 
now,  Mr.  White,  and  besides,  he  doesn't  think  there's 
much  advantage  in  purebred  over  ordinary  cattle." 

"  You  tell  your  Uncle  Joe  that  the  First  National 
Bank  is  back  of  him  and  we'll  loan  him  the  necessary 
money  to  buy  these  cattle,  and  that  I  think  he  should 
replace  his  present  herd  of  old  common  cattle  with 
young  purebred  stock — that  it  will  pay  him  to  do 
so.  He  can  get  back  a  part  of  their  cost  by  selling  off 
his  present  herd.  I've  about  come  to  the  conclusion, 
Bob,  that  there's  more  money  in  that  sand  pit  of  your 
Uncle  Joe's  than  either  you  or  he  have  any  idea. 
Tell  him  the  sale  will  be  next  Tuesday,  and  if  he'll  come 
in  early  in  the  morning,  I'll  drive  him  down  in  my 
automobile.  We  can  get  back  easy  by  noon,  so  he'll 
only  lose  half  a  day.  I  know  all  about  these  cattle — 
they're  a  first-class  healthy  herd.  The  man  that  owned 
them  died,  and  his  widow  is  selling  off  all  their  stock." 

"All  right,  Mr.  White,  I'll  tell  him,"  said  Bob. 
"  Thank  you  for  your  advice  about  the  contract." 


THE  NEW  AUNT  83 

"  I  want  to  see  that  farm  of  your  uncle's,  Bob, 
improved  and  well  stocked  this  year — ^first  on  account 
of  the  benefit  he'll  get  from  it  and  second  on  account 
of  the  influence  it  will  have  on  the  neighboring  farms. 
We've  lots  of  good  fanns  around  here,  Bob,  and  I 
want  a  model  one  for  the  others  to  pattern  after.  All 
our  farms  need  to  make  them  pay  well  is  wide-awake 
farmers,  with  a  constructive  bank  back  of  them  to  give 
them  the  necessary  financial  help  to  get  started.  I've 
decided  that  the  First  National  is  going  to  be  that  bank, 
and  stand  back  of  all  farmers  in  this  county  who'll 
make  real  improvements. 

"Your  uncle's  farm  I've  picked  out  to  start  with, 
on  account  of  his  having  that  gravel  pit,  which  will 
make  it  possible  to  build  his  new  buildings  and  pay 
off  the  mortgage  quickly.  Of  course,  the  others  must 
necessarily  go  slower  in  their  improvements,  but  when 
we  finish  with  your  uncle  this  fall.  Bob,  we'll  have  the 
others  all  so  jealous  they'll  just  naturally  get  into 
line." 


VIII 

THE  SALE 

Bob's  heart  beat  quickly  on  Monday  morning,  as  he 
looked  out  from  the  barnyard  in  the  direction  of  the 
old  mill  and  saw  the  smoke  coming  from  the  steam 
shovel  that  Mr,  Brady  had  placed  at  the  lower  end  of 
the  ditch,  ready  to  start  operations.  Brady  evidently 
intended  to  do  the  work  in  the  shortest  possible  time, 
for  while  Bob  was  still  looking,  the  operator  started 
the  machine,  and  Bob  saw  the  shovel  sink  deep  into  the 
so'ft  earth  and  a  moment  later  swing  over  to  the  north 
side,  and  the  first  yard  of  dirt  had  been  removed.  He 
even  forgave  the  contractor  for  his  attempt  to  drive  a 
sharp  bargain  in  his  written  contract,  though  he  remem- 
bered Brady's  embarrassment  when  his  uncle  pointed 
out  the  defects  in  his  written  agreement  and  hastily 
signed  the  corrected  one  made  by  John  White. 

Bob  could  scarcely  realize  that  it  was  little  more 
than  a  week  since  the  eventful  Saturday  afternoon  he 
had  spent  fishing  in  the  old  pond.  He  was  whistling 
merrily  as  he  brought  out  the  horses  to  start  the  spring 
plowing. 

"  I  don't  like  to  spoil  that  merry  tune  of  yours  so 
early  Monday  morning,  Bob,  but  I've  been  in  a  quan- 
dary for  several  days  to  know  how  to  tell  you  that  it 
isn't  going  to  be  possible  for  you  to  go  to  the  wedding," 
said  his  uncle.  "  You  see,  some  one  will  have  to  stay 
on  the  place  while  we're  away,  and  your  grandmother 

84 


THE  SALE  85 

and  grandfather  ought  to  go,  and,  of  course,  I'll  have 
to  be  there  myself,"  he  laughed. 

"  That's  all  right,"  replied  Bob.  "  Of  course,  I'd 
like  to  go  to  the  wedding,  but  I'll  have  lots  of  time  to 
get  acquainted  with  Aunt  Bettie  afterwards,  and, 
besides,"  he  added,  glancing  at  the  sun  coming  over 
the  hill,  "  we  ought  to  get  our  spring  plowing  started 
as  soon  as  possible.  I  was  just  wondering.  Uncle  Joe," 
he  added,  "  who  we  could  get  to  look  after  the  sand  pit 
and  start  making  fence  posts.  I  was  reading  in  one  of 
the  *  Concrete  on  the  Farm  '  bulletins  how  they're  made. 
It  isn't  going  to  be  much  of  a  job  to  receive  the  tickets 
for  sand  and  gravel  that  Mr.  Brady'll  take  away,  and 
the  man  in  charge  can  spend  practically  all  of  his  time 
making  fence  posts.  He  ought  to  make  at  least  20 
posts  each  day — that  would  mean  that  in  a  month  we 
would  have  520  posts — enough  for  520  rods  of  fence — 
or  in  a  year  6240  rods." 

''  But  you  couldn't  make  fence  posts  in  cold 
weather.  Bob,"  corrected  his  uncle. 

"  Why,  yes,  you  can.  Uncle  Joe,  if  you  have  an 
enclosed  shed  with  some  heat  in  it.  The  bulletin  tells 
all  about  how  to  do  concrete  work  in  cold  w^eafher." 

"  Well,  I'll  look  around  to-day,  Bob,  and  see  who 
I  can  find.  I  have  to  go  to  town  at  noon  to  attend  to 
some  business.  You  have  to  get  a  license,  you  know,  so 
I'll  have  to  attend  to  that  before  I  forget  it.  Shall  I 
plow  around  for  the  first  time  or  two  for  you,  Bob?  " 
asked  his  uncle,  as  they  hitched  the  team  to  the  plow. 


86  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  No,"  said  Bob.  "  I'd  like  to  try  it  myself,"  and 
he  guided  the  horses  along  the  fence  for  the  first 
furrow. 

The  field  they  had  selected  was  the  one  lying  just 
back  of  the  barn,  and  Bob  had  completed  three  sides 
and  was  coming  along  the  fourth,  which  adjoined  the 
fence  between  the  woodshed  and  the  house.  His  uncle, 
who  was  washing  the  buggy,  looked  up  and  noticed  that 
he  was  leaving  considerable  space  between  this  fence 
and  his  furrow. 

"  Why  are  you  leaving  such  a  large  space  in  the 
corner.  Bob?  "  he  called,  as  the  team  came  abreast  of 
where  he  was  working. 

"  I  was  leaving  a  space  for  a  new  hen  house,  Uncle 
Joe,"  he  replied. 

"  What  new  hen  house?  "  asked  his  uncle. 

"  Oh,  didn't  Aunt  Bettie  tell  you  when  she  was 
here  that  we  talked  about  the  location  for  a  new  hen 
house,  and  she  thought  it  ought  to  be  put  out  here  in 
this  field  between  the  house  and  the  barn,  so  that  it 
would  face  to  the  south,"  answered  Bob. 

"  Why,  no,  I  guess  she  must  have  forgotten  to  men- 
tion it  to  me,"  said  his  uncle,  "  but  I  don't  think  we'll 
be  able  to  afford  any  new  buildings  on  the  farm  this 
year,  Bob." 

"  I'm  not  so  sure  about  that,"  replied  Bob.  "  You 
know,  Mr.  White  said  the  First  National  Bank  was 
going  to  be  run  as  a  constructive  bank  and  that  he 
would  be  willing  to  loan  money  on  any  permanent 


THE  SALE  87 

improvements,  and  that  he  wanted  to  make  a  model 
farm  of  yours  this  year.  Besides,  you  remember  what 
I  told  you  he  said  about  the  value  of  our  sand  and 
gravel  pit." 

"  Yes,  Bob,  but  look  at  the  work  we  have  contracted 
for  already;  don't  forget  how  many  loads  of  sand  and 
gravel  it  will  take  to  pay  for  that." 

"That's  so,"  said  Bob,  "  but  Mr.  White  didn't  seem 
to  be  so  much  concerned  about  the  amount  we  spent 
for  improvements  as  what  we  spent  it  for.  He  seems 
to  be  anxious  to  have  us  fix  the  old  farm  up  and  believes 
it  will  pay." 

"  That's  all  right  for  you  and  John  White,"  added 
his  uncle,  "  to  talk  of  making  this  a  model  farm  in  a 
year,  but  it's  my  name  that's  going  to  be  on  the  notes, 
and  some  fine  morning  when  we  get  all  these  improve- 
ments made,  he  may  drive  out  here  and  take  the  model 
farm  away  from  me  for  the  notes." 

"  I  don't  think  John  White  would  do  such  a  thing," 
said  Bob  stoutly.  "  Besides,  why  should  he  call  his 
bank  a  '  Constructive  Bank,'  if  he  used  it  to  destroy 
other  people's  hopes?  I  should  think  he  would  call  it 
a  *  Destructive  Bank,'  instead." 

"  Well,  maybe  so,"  said  his  uncle.  "  Anyhow,  it 
won't  hurt  any  one  to  let  that  little  corner  go  undevel- 
oped for  the  present,  till  I  talk  it  over  with  your  Aunt 
Bettie.  It  may  please  her  if  we  carry  out  her 
suggestion." 

"  Why're  you  so  quiet.  Bob?"  asked  his  grand- 


88  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

mother  at  dinner  that  day.  "  One  would  think  it  was 
you  that  was  getting  married  instead  of  your  Uncle 
Joe,  sitting  there  as  solemn  as  an  owl  and  not  saying 
anything.  Has  the  cat  run  away  with  your  tongue  so 
soon?  " 

"  Why,  no,"  said  Bob.    "  I  was  just  thinking." 
"  You  weren't  feeling  badly  because  you  weren't 
going  to  the  wedding,  were  you  ?  "  asked  his  uncle, 
looking  up. 

"  No,  Uncle  Joe,  I  wasn't.  I  was  just  wondering 
if  they  might  have  some  bees  at  the  sale  to-morrow." 

"Bees!"  exclaimed  his  grandmother.  "What  in 
the  world  do  you  want  with  bees  ?  Isn't  it  bad  enough 
around  the  farm  already  with  yellow- jackets  and  bum- 
ble-bees, without  bringing  any  more  here?  I  should 
think  you  would  get  stung  enough  by  the  wild  bees 
without  wanting  to  bring  a  lot  of  honey  bees  to  the 
farm." 

"  Yes,  grandmother,  but  you  forget  that  the  wild 
bees  don't  make  any  honey,  or  earn  anything  for  us, 
and  honey  bees  would  be  earning  money  all  the  time. 
I've  been  reading  in  one  of  the  farmers'  bulletins  that 
a  good  colony  of  bees  would  make  30  pounds  of  honey 
in  a  season,  which  at  20  cents  per  pound  would  be 
worth  $6.00,  and  the  only  thing  we  would  have  to  do 
would  be  to  look  them  over  carefully  and  smoke  them 
once  in  a  while  when  they  swarmed,"  he  replied. 

"  Say,  Bob,  did  John  White  put  these  bees  in  your 
bonnet  ?  "  asked  his  uncle  suddenly. 


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THE  SALE  89 

"  No,  it  was  an  idea  I  got  out  of  one  of  the  farm 
bulletins,"  he  rephed 

"  Well,  I  think  you  had  better  give  up  reading  those 
bulletins  for  a  while,  and  keep  your  mind  on  your 
plowing,  "  said  his  uncle. 

"  Why,  didn't  I  do  lots  of  work  this  morning, 
Uncle  Joe?  "  asked  Bob  surprised. 

"  Yes,  of  course ;  but  I  mean  you  can't  work  and 
think  both,"  said  his  uncle. 

"  Why  not,  Uncle  Joe?  Don't  you  remember  what 
Mr.  Dow,  the  insurance  man,  said  about  the  farmers 
that  didn't  think?" 

"  Well,  anyhow,  I  draw  the  line  at  buying  bees," 
replied  his  uncle  firmly. 

"  Yes,"  added  his  grandmother.  ''  I  don't  want 
any  bees  around  here,  spoiling  the  fruit." 

"  But,  grandmother,  you  haven't  waited  to  find  out 
what  I'm  going  to  do  with  them,"  said  Bob.  "  I  don't 
want  to  put  them  around  the  house.  I  want  to  put 
them  between  the  clover  meadow  and  the  young 
orchard,  and,  besides,  they  don't  spoil  the  fruit.  It's 
the  other  insects  that  do  that.  A  honey  bee  couldn't  do 
that  if  it  wanted  to." 

"  Bob,"  asked  his  uncle,  showing  an  interest  for 
the  first  time,  "  why  do  you  want  to  put  them  away 
over  there?  " 

"  Because  I've  been  reading  in  the  farm  bulletins 
that  the  reason  orchards  have  such  poor  crops  of  fruit 
is  because  they  don't  have  enough  bees  to  pollinate  the 


90  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

blossoms.  The  bulletin  said  that  every  orchard  should 
have  a  number  of  colonies  of  bees.  Of  course,  the 
nearer  the  bees  are  to  the  blossosms  the  more  honey 
they'll  make,  because  the  distance  is  short;  besides,  if 
we  put  them  at  the  edge  of  the  orchard  next  to  the 
meadow  when  the  clover  is  in  bloom,  they  could  work 
on  the  clover,  too,  just  as  easy  as  the  orchard  blos- 
soms, and  they'd  make  a  lot  of  honey,"  he  declared. 

"  Well,  Bob,  you  certainly  have  been  reading  those 
books,"  said  his  grandfather,  glancing  up  from  his 
paper.  "  Between  your  own  work,  Joe,  your  new  wife 
and  your  chore  boy,"  he  said,  "  you're  going  to  lead  a 
pretty  busy  life  this  summer,  if  I  don't  miss  my  guess." 

"  Well,  why  not,  grandfather?  "  demanded  Bob. 

"  No  reason  in  the  world,  my  boy,  and  you've  hit 
the  nail  square  on  the  head  by  locating  the  hives 
between  the  orchard  and  the  meadow.  A  bee  can  prob- 
ably make  four  to  five  times  as  much  honey  in  a  season 
there  than  if  we  put  the  hives  out  back  of  the  barn-  or 
in  some  other  place  near  the  house." 

"  I'd  like  to  please  you  in  this  matter.  Bob,  if  I 
could,"  said  his  uncle,  "but  you  know  how  things  are 
this  year.  We're  doing  so  much  already  that  I  don't 
feel'  as  though  I  could  spare  a  dollar  to  invest  in  bees." 

"  But,  Uncle  Joe,  I  haven't  asked  you  to  invest 
anything  in  bees.  I  was  only  wondering  if  there'd  be 
some  bees  for  sale.  You  know  I  have  $72.97  myself 
on  deposit  at  the  First  National,  and  I  was  wondering 
whether  you'd  be  willing  to  let  me  buy  the  bees  and 


THE  SALE  91 

take  enough  time  off  to  look  after  them  for  the  benefit 
the  orchard  would  get.  I've  a  notion  that  the  bees 
could  earn  more  for  me  than  the  money  will  earn  at 
interest." 

"  Now,  that's  what  I  call  real  '  git  up  and  git '," 
said  his  grandmother,  suddenly  forgetting  her  preju- 
dice against  bees,  in  admiration  of  the  scheme. 

"  Well,  if  they've  any  at  the  sale,  how  many  do 
you  want  me  to  buy,  Bob?  "  asked  his  uncle. 

"  I  should  think  five  or  six  good  colonies  would  do 
to  start  wuth,  and  they  ought  not  to  cost  more  than  ten 
dollars  each,  provided  they're  good  and  healthy." 

"  How  the  dickens  am  I  to  know  whether  they're 
good  and  healthy.  Bob?  You  don't  want  me  to  knock 
at  their  door  and  say,  *  Good  morning  bees ;  how  do  you 
find  yourself  this  morning'?  " 

"Of  course  not,"  laughed  Bob.  "  I  forgot  you 
don't  understand  bees." 

"  But,  how  would  you  get  them  here?  "  asked  his 
uncle,  suddenly  realizing  that  hauling  hives  of  bees 
around  the  country  might  not  be  a  pleasant  job,  and 
also  that  the  farm  to  which  he  was  going  was  some 
eighteen  miles  away. 

"  Well,  of  course,"  said  Bob,  "  it  would  cost  some- 
thing to  haul  them,  but  maybe  they've  an  automobile 
truck  and  you  could  pay  a  little  more  and  have  them 
delivered." 

"  All  right,  Bob,  I'll  look  into  the  matter  and  let 
you  kncJw  when  I  return,"  said  his  uncle. 


92  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

After  supper,  when  the  chores  had  been  done,  Bob 
went  over  to  look  at  the  ditch.  He  was  astonished  to 
find  how  much  work  had  been  accompHshed.  A  clean- 
cut  trench  with  uniform  banks  on  either  side  and  the 
new  bank  leveled  on  top  125  feet  long  had  been  dug. 
He  didn't  know  how  much  a  caterpillar  steam  shovel 
was  worth,  but  at  the  rate  the  contractor  figured  for 
the  ditch,  he  would  have  $610.00  left  over,  after  pay- 
ing the  operator  and  engineer  each  $5.00  per 
day,  for  six  days'  work,  which  Bob  thought  ought  to 
be  enough  to  cover  their  wages,  and  adding  $5.00  per 
day  for  fuel,  making  $90.00  in  all.  Machinery  was 
certainly  the  thing  to  handle  work  quickly  and  cheaply, 
for  after  deducting  the  cost  of  bringing  the  shovel  to 
the  job  and  taking  it  away  again,  the  contractor  would 
make  a  handsome  profit,  and  he  was  more  impressed 
than  ever  with  the  conversation  he  had  overheard 
between  Mr.  White  and  Mr.  Dow  regarding  power  on 
the  farm. 

Bob  was  at  supper  with  his  grandparents  when  his 
Uncle  Joe  returned  from  the  sale  the  next  evening,  but 
instead  of  taking  a  half  day,  as  he  had  thought,  he  had 
used  up  an  entire  day. 

"  I  thought  you  were  going  to  get  back  at  noon, 
Uncle  Joe,"  said  Bob.  "  Did  they  have  any  bees  to 
sell?" 

"  How  many  colonies  did  you  ask  me  to  buy.  Bob?  " 
asked  his  uncle  laughing. 

"  Five  or  six,"  said  Bob. 


THE  SALE  93 

"  Well,  I  got  them  for  you  all  right,  but  there's  not 
five  or  six.  They  had  twenty-two  and  they  wouldn't 
sell  one  without  selling  all.  So  I  bought  them  all  for 
$50.00,  which  you  see  is  less  than  you  said  you  were 
willing  to  pay  for  six  and  they're  going  to  deliver  them, 
too,  in  modern  sectional  hives.  They  are  three-banded 
Italian,  whatever  that  means,  with  one  or  two  excep- 
tions they  say  the  colonies  are  in  a  good  healthy 
condition." 

"  That's  fine,"  said  Bob,  so  excited  he  was  scarcely 
able  to  eat  his  supper.   "  What  else  did  you  buy?  " 

"  Well,  Bob,  if  I  go  to  the  poorhouse,  there'll  be  no 
one  to  blame  for  it  but  you  and  John  White." 

"Why,  how's  that?"  asked  Bob's  grandfather, 
looking  up  quickly. 

"  Well,  it  was  like  this :  when  he  got  me  down  there 
he  not  only  persuaded  me  to  buy  the  ten  young  Hol- 
stein  cows  and  a  bull,  but  he  induced  me  to  buy  five 
Berkshire  brood  sows  and  two  four-year-old  Belgian 
mares.  He  wanted  me  to  take  a  flock  of  Southdown 
Ewes  and  a  ram,  but  I  didn't  buy  them — there's  no 
money  in  keeping  a  few  sheep." 

"Were  they  nice-looking  sheep,  Joe?"  asked  his 
father,  who  was  very  fond  of  sheep. 

"  The  finest  I  ever  saw,  father,  but  I  didn't  want 
to  go  so  far  in  debt." 

"  Then  who  bid  them  in,  Joe?  "  asked  his  father. 

"  Bob." 

"  Me !  "  asked  Bob,  looking  up  suddenly. 


94  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  Yes,  John  White  bought  them  for  you  and  said 
he  would  be  wilhng  to  advance  the  money  to  pay  for 
them,  and  you  could  pay  him  back  later.  He  said  they 
were  too  good  a  bargain  to  lose." 

"  But  I've  no  farm  for  them  to  run  on."  said  Bob, 
"  and  it  wouldn't  be  fair  for  me  to  pasture  them  on 
your  land,  Uncle  Joe." 

"  I  was  thinking  of  that,"  said  his  uncle. 

"  Well,  the  only  fair  way,  Uncle  Joe,  would  be  for 
you  to  take  the  sheep  yourself,  for  it  wouldn't  be  fair 
for  me  to  keep  them  on  your  farm.  Besides,  I'll  be 
busy  enough  with  the  bees." 

"  And  the  chickens,"  added  his  uncle. 

"Why,  did  you  buy  some  chickens.  Uncle  Joe?" 

"  Yes,  that  confounded  John  White  made  me  buy 
nearly  everything  on  the  place.  I  bought  fifty  single- 
comb  white  Leghorn  pullets  and  three  cockerels.  Also 
ten  white  Plymouth  Rock  pullets  and  one  cockerel,  also 
an  incubator  and  brooder.  The  chickens,"  added  his 
uncle,  "  are  for  your  Aunt  Bettie.  Since  you're  going 
to  build  a  new  hen  house  I  thought  we'd  better  get 
some  good  chickens." 

Bob  was  so  excited  now  that  he  left  the  table  and 
rushed  up  to  his  room  to  get  out  the  farm  bulletins  that 
showed  the  best  types  of  hen  houses.  Wlien  he 
returned  his  uncle  and  his  grandfather  were  busily 
talking. 

*'  Joe,"  remarked  his  father,  "  I'm  afraid  you're 
getting  in  pretty  deep  with  John  White  putting  these 


THE  SALE  95 

notions  into  your  head  about  modern  farming.  Don't 
forget  you  owe  me  $2000.00  on  the  farm,  which,  with 
all  the  other  things  you've  bought,  you  must  be  ter- 
ribly in  debt." 

"  I  was  afraid  you'd  feel  that  way  about  it,  father, 
and  I  told  White  so,"  he  replied. 

"  He  probably  don't  care,  as  long  as  he  was  getting 
you  to  borrow  his  money  and  sign  his  notes,"  said  his 
father. 

"  That's  where  you  do  him  an  injustice,  father," 
replied  his  son.  *'  He  said  the  first  thing  I  should  do 
would  be  to  pay  you  off,  and  as  it  don't  mal<e  any 
difference  whether  I  pay  interest  to  you  or  the  bank, 
he  loaned  me  enough  money  to  pay  you  off,  so  the  next 
time  we  go  to  town  we'll  fix  the  matter  up.  I  told  John 
White  if  I  went  broke  he'd  be  the  one  to  suffer." 

"  What  did  he  say?  "  asked  his  father. 

"  He  only  laughed  and  said,  *  I'll  take  a  chance  on 
you,  Joe,  since  I've  met  the  woman  you're  going  to 
marry  and  that  boy  you've  got  on  the  farm.  If  the 
pair  of  them  don't  make  you  "  git  up  and  git,"  then  I'll 
miss  my  guess.'  " 

"  H'm,"  sniffed  his  mother,  "  it's  little  that  Betsy 
Atwood  knows  about  farming,  with  her  high-fangled 
New  England  notions  and  Farm  Bulletin  Education. 
H'm!" 

"  Now,  mother,"  said  her  son,  "  people  aren't  living 
on  farms  any  more  the  way  they  used  to.  Farms  must 
be  made  attractive  and  work  must  be  made  easy,  if 


96  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

people  are  to  live  on  them.  That's  why  you're  leaving 
yourself." 

"  Nobody  ever  accused  me  before,  Joe  Williams, 
of  not  doing  my  share  of  work.  Your  father  and  I 
toiled  all  our  lives  and  this  is  how  much  you  appre- 
ciate it." 

"  But  I  tell  you,  mother,  farmers  aren't  satisfied  to 
get  along  in  the  same  way  they  used  to.  The  fanner 
is  human  and  wants  comforts  and  pleasures  in  Hfe  just 
as  well  as  anybody  else,  and  I'm  beginning  to  believe 
that  John  White  was  right  when  he  made  me  buy  an 
automobile  to-day." 

"  What!  "  almost  shouted  his  mother.  "  Joe  Wil- 
liams, you've  gone  plumb  crazy.  John  White  has 
bewitched  you !  " 

"  No,  he  hasn't,  mother.  I  knew  you'd  feel  that 
way  when  I  told  you  about  it,  and  that's  one  reason 
I  want  to  pay  you  off  first,  so  you  won't  lose  anything 
if  I  fail." 

"  Whatever  induced  you  to  buy  an  automobile, 
Joe?  "  asked  his  father,  while  Bob  sat  staring,  unable 
to  believe  his  ears. 

"  Well,  it  was  like  this :  On  the  way  back  from  the 
sale  he  said,  '  Now,  Joe,  this  ought  to  give  you  a  pretty 
good  equipment  by  the  time  you  get  your  new  build- 
ings put  up." 

"What!  Is  he  suggesting  new  buildings?" 
demanded  his  mother.  "  As  if  the  buildings  we  used 
aren't  good  enough  for  our  children." 


THE  SALE  97 

"  It  was  like  this,"  Joe  continued,  ignoring  the  inter- 
mption ;  "  as  we  were  driving  back  in  the  car,  he  said, 
'  Now,  Joe,  I  want  you  to  remember  you're  marrying 
a  young  woman  who  has  been  accustomed  to  going 
about  a  bit,  and  will  have  to  get  away  from  the  farm 
occasionally  in  order  to  be  happy,  and  you've  one  of 
the  most  enthusiastic  boys  on  your  farm  I've  ever  met, 
but  his  enthusiasm  will  not  keep  up  if  he's  to  be  tied 
down  tight.  What  you  need  is  an  automobile, 
so  you  can  go  to  church,  and  in  the  evening,  when 
your  work  is  done,  you  can  go  for  a  drive,  or  run 
in  and  see  the  movies.  I  don't  mind  telling  you  there 
are  two  reasons  why  I'm  recommending  this  car  to  you. 
First,  I  w^ant  you  to  find  out  for  yourself  what  miser- 
able roads  there  are  in  this  county  and  why  they  should 
be  paved  with  concrete.  Second,  I  want  you  to  make 
it  so  pleasant  on  the  farm  for  your  wife,  and  later  for 
your  children,  that  they'll  always  w^ant  to  stay  there — 
for  we  must  keep  our  boys  and  girls  on  the  farm  if 
this  country  is  to  prosper.  The  trouble  has  been 
farmers  have  not  realized  the  old  saying,  "  All  work 
and  no  play  makes  Jack  a  dull  boy."  That's  why  the 
farms  are  deserted.  There's  one  restriction,  though, 
I'm  going  to  place  on  you,  and  that  is  that  the  car  is 
never  to  be  run  during  working  hours,  except  such  as 
your  wife  might  use  it  to  drive  to  market,  and  the  car 
must  be  sheltered  in  a  building  and  kept  clean.  I  don't 
want  tc  ever  see  you  drive  in  tO'  town  with  a  car  all 
covered  with  mud.  Now,  if  you're  willing  to  do  that, 
7 


98  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

I'll  advance  you  enough  money  so  you'll  have  a  com- 
plete outfit'  " 

"  Well,  I  suppose  you  signed  up  for  it,"  said  his 
mother  hopelessly. 

"  iYes,"  laughed  her  son.  "  I  thought  I  might  as 
w^ell  take  the  automobile  along  with  the  other  things, 
mother." 

"  H'm!  "  sniffed  his  mother.  "  Joe  Williams,  I'll 
give  you  six  months  until  the  sheriff  sells  you  out.  I 
never  thought  I'd  raise  a  son  who  would  turn  out  to 
be  such  a  fool,"  and  she  burst  into  tears. 

"  Now,  now,  mother,  you're  all  wrong  in  this  mat- 
ter," said  her  son,  going  over  and  taking  her  in  his  arms. 
"  I'm  not  doing  this  simply  because  I  love  Betsy  At- 
wood  but  because  it's  good  business,  and,  besides,  I 
want  to  make  her  life  pleasant.  It's  the  modern  idea, 
mother;  it's  the  right  way  to  do,  and  I  think  John 
White  is  right.  The  reason  farmers'  boys  and  girls 
refuse  to  stay  on  the  old  farm  is  on  account  of  the  few 
amusements  they  get.  Don't  you  worry  about  the 
sheriff  selling  me  out,  for  if  I  live  I  can  easily  make  a 
go  O'f  it,  and  if  I  should  die  suddenly,  I've  a  $10,000.00 
life  insurance  policy  in  the  Farmers'  Mutual  that  will 
pay  off  the  mortgage  and  leave  something  for  Bettie 
besides.  Of  course,  it  cost  something  to  take  out  a 
policy  of  $10,000.00;  everything  of  value  costs,  but  an 
insurance  policy  that  pays  off  the  mortgage,  if  I  happen 
to  die,  relieves  me  of  all  worry.  It  would  have  been  a 
risk  without  insurance,  but  I  feel  safe  now." 


IX 

POWER  AND  BANKING 

Everything  was  hustle  and  bustle  on  the  farm  on 
Monday  morning,  March  twenty-seventh,  for  this  was 
to  be  Joe  Williams'  wedding  day. 

Bob  was  up  at  daylight,  milked  his  cows  and  fin- 
ished his  chores  before  breakfast.  At  nine  o'clock  his 
Uncle  Joe  and  grandparents  left  for  town,  where  they 
would  take  the  ten  o'clock  train  to  Greensburg,  where 
the  wedding  was  to  be  solemnized  at  noon. 

As  previously  arranged,  Bob  stayed  on  the  farm 
to  look  after  things  and  finish  plowing  the  ten-acre  field 
adjoining  the  barn,  which  had  been  started  two  days 
before.  It  was  scarcely  nine-thirty  when  he  turned 
and  started  back  along  the  north  side  of  the  field.  He 
glanced  in  the  direction  of  the  barn  and  beheld  an 
imusual  sight.  A  small  automobile  had  been  driven 
into  the  barnyard  and  close  behind  it  came  the  most 
unusual  looking  piece  of  machinery  he  had  ever  seen. 
He  stopped  his  team  and  stood  leaning  on  the  plow, 
wondering  what  it  might  be.  The  driver  of  the  auto- 
mobile, whom  he  recognized  as  John  White,  president 
of  the  First  National  Bank,  jumped  from  the  car  and 
opened  the  gate  of  the  field  in  which  Bob  was  plowing 
and  a  moment  later  the  machine  entered.  It  crossed 
the  ground  he  had  already  plowed  on  the  west  side 

89 


100  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

of  the  field  and  entered  the  furrow ;  then  swung  around 
with  its  side  toward  him.  He  now  recognized  the 
apparatus — it  was  a  tractor  gang  plow,  and  as  it  went 
along,  he  saw  it  was  throwing  up  three  furrows  at  a 
time.  As  he  watched  it  go  he  could  not  help  noticing 
how  much  faster  it  moved  than  his  team  of  horses 
was  capable  of  doing.  He  was  so'  lost  in  admiration 
of  the  speed  and  ease  with  which  the  plow  did  its  work 
that  he  did  not  notice  the  banker  coming  toward  him 
until  he  stood  beside  him. 

"  Well,  what  do  you  think  of  that,  Bob,  for  a 
plow?  "  asked  the  banker  laughing. 

"  Some  plow,  Mr.  White,"  said  Bob,  taking  off  his 
hat  and  running  his  fingers  through  his  sandy  hair, 
while  he  still  kept  his  gaze  riveted  on  the  tractor  which 
now  turned  the  southeast  corner  and  started  up  on  the 
east  side  of  the  field. 

"  Better  turn  your  team  out  of  the  furrow.  Bob," 
advised  the  banker,  "  and  let  the  tractor  get  ahead  of 
you.  I  want  you  to  follow  it  around  the  field,  so 
you  can  see  how  much  faster  it  travels  than  your  team." 

Bob  had  scarcely  turned  his  team  out  before  the 
tractor  came  up  opposite  them,  and  with  a  wave  of  the 
hand  and  a  cheery  good  morning,  the  operator  of  the 
machine  went  by  the  admiring  boy  and  the  smiling 
banker. 

"  Now  get  your  team  in  behind  him,  Bob,  and  see 
if  you  can  catch  him,"  said  the  banker. 

Bob  had  not  gone  more  than  a  few  rods  before  it 


POWER  AND  BANKING  101 

became  evident  to  him  that  his  team  would  never  over- 
take the  fast-moving  tractor.  In  fact,  before  he  had 
gone  half  the  distance,  the  tractor  was  up  behind  him 
again  on  the  second  round,  so  he  turned  his  team  out 
again  to  let  it  go  by.  This  time,  however,  the  operator 
brought  the  machine  to  a  stop  and  said : 

"  Come  over  and  have  a  look  at  her,  young  man." 

"  This  is  Mr.  Patterson,  of  the  Farmers'  Harvester 
Company,  Bob,  with  their  latest  model  tractor  plow. 
Show  him  how  to  operate  it,  Patterson,"  said  Mr. 
WTiite,  "  and  then  let  him  take  it  around  the  field 
himself." 

"  Oh,  but  I  couldn't  run  a  piece  of  machinery  like 
that,"  protested  Bob. 

"  Sure  you  can.  That's  why  we  brought  it  out 
here,"  said  the  banker. 

"  Oh,  no,  I'm  sure  it  would  be  too  complicated  for 
me,"  protested  Bob. 

"  That's  where  you  are  mistaken,"  said  the  agent, 
jumping  down  from  the  operator's  seat.  "  Come  here 
and  I'll  explain  the  mechanism  to  you  in  a  few 
minutes." 

After  he  had  finished,  he  turned  to  Bob  and  said: 

"  This  thing  is  so  simple,  it'll  run  itself,  except  at 
the  comers,  where  you'll  have  to  operate  it  to  turn." 

"  How  do  you  mean,  run  itself?  "  asked  the  unbe- 
lieving boy. 

"  Well,  I'll  show  you,"  said  the  agent,  as  he 
adjusted  one  or  two  of  the  levers,  and,  much  to  Bob's 


102  HIDDEN.TREASURE 

astonishment,  the  tractor  set  off  down  the  field  by 
itself. 

"  Why,  how  do  you  do  that?  "  he  asked,  staring 
open-mouthed  after  the  disappearing  tractor. 

"  Come  down  to  the  comer  and  I'll  show  you,"  said 
the  agent. 

"  But  I  can't  leave  the  team,"  said  Bob. 

"  Oh,  I'll  take  care  of  the  team,"  said  the  banker 
laughing.    "  You  go  down  and  operate  the  plow." 

Handing  the  lines  over  to  the  banker,  Bob  hur- 
ried after  the  agent,  who  was  racing"  down  the  field 
so  as  to  catch  up  to  the  tractor  before  it  reached  the 
comer.  Then  he  stopped  the  machine  imtil  Bob 
came  up. 

*'  Now,  this  is  how  it's  done,  Bob.  Youi  see  this 
self-steering  device  down  here  in  the  furrow.  Well,  I 
set  this  lever  and  clamp  it  over  fast  and  this  self-steering 
device  rubs  along  the  edge  of  the  furrow  and  keeps  the 
plow  following  the  furrow.  In  big  fields  in  the  West, 
where  there's  plenty  of  room  and  the  ground  is  com- 
paratively level,  we  always  plow  around  a  circle. 
There's  where  we  use  our  big  fellers,"  he  said  smiling. 
*'  Fourteen  plows  in  a  gang  and  one  man  can  operate 
all  of  them  at  once." 

"  You  don't  mean  it,"  said  Bob.  "  Three  or  four 
plows  going  at  once,  and  each  one  plowing  fourteen 
furrows.  Why,  you  would  plow  a  field  like  this  in 
less  than  a  day." 

"  Less  than  a  day,"  said  the  agent.     "  How  long 


_^^ 


1^ 


POWER  AND  BANKING  103 

will  it  take  you  to  finish  this  field  with  your  team, 

Bob?" 

"  Well,  I  expect  to  get  through  by  noon  on  Satur- 
day," he  replied. 

*'  Well,  what  do  you  say  if  we  finish  it  up  by  six 
o'clock  tonight?  " 

"  But  you  couldn't  do  that,  Mr.  Patterson!  " 

"  We  can't !  Well,  you  just  wait  till  I  show  you. 
I  want  you  to  get  into  the  seat  and  run  it  yourself, 
Bob;  then  you  can  see  how  it  goes." 

The  boy  climbed  awkwardly  into  the  machine  and 
adjusted  the  levers  according  to  instructions. 

"  I'm  sure  I  won't  be  able  to  handle  it,  Mr.  Patter- 
son," he  said,  as  he  opened  the  throttle  and  the  engine 
started. 

"  Won't  be  able  to  handle  it?  All  you  need  to  do 
is  to  sit  on  the  seat  and  let  it  go.  Now  shove  this  lever 
and  throw  in  the  clutch,"  suggested  the  agent,  and  off 
the  plow  started. 

"  It  does  run  easy,"  said  Bob,  as  the  tractor  moved 
rapidly  ahead,  the  agent  walking  alongside,  talking  to 
Bob  as  they  went. 

"Easy!"  remarked  the  agent.  "Why,  you  can 
run  this  machine  all  day,  Bob,  and  it  won't  make  you 
as  tired  in  a  whole  day  as  doing  your  chores.  Now, 
when  you  get  to  the  corner  put  your  throttle  down  and 
I'll  show  you  how  to  make  the  turn." 

Bob  was  a  bit  awkward,  but  finally  made  the  adjust- 
ment and  got  the  plow  to  a  standstill  at  the  corner. 


104  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  You  see,  Bob,"  said  Mr.  Patterson,  "  when  you 
use  a  gang  plow  you  don't  cut  the  corners  square 
as  you  do  with  a  team  of  horses.  You  round  them  off 
a  bit,  then  you  don't  need  to  take  the  trouble  to  turn. 
Now,  while  you  plow  around,  I'll  take  your  team  and 
plow  off  the  corners." 

"  You  aren't  going  to  let  me  go  around  myself,  Mr. 
Patterson  ?"  asked  Bob. 

"  Certainly,  you  can  run  it  yourself  just  as  well  as 
anybody,"  replied  the  agent.  "  After  I  finish  with  the 
team,  Mr.  White  and  I  have  some  business  to  do.  By 
the  way,  can  we  use  your  telephone,  Bob?  " 

"  Sorry,  Mr.  Patterson,  we  haven't  a  telephone 
yet,"  stammered  Bob.  "  I  think  Uncle  Joe'll  put  one 
in  though  when  he  gets  back  from  his  wedding.  You 
see,  he's  getting  married  to-day." 

"  I  know  he  is,"  said  the  agent  grinning.  "  That's 
why  we  brought  the  tractor  out  to-day.  We  wanted  to 
have  a  good  chance  when  your  uncle  wasn't  home. 
When  he  gets  back  with  his  bride,  we're  going  to  show 
him  what  power  can  do  to  a  farm." 

"  Well,  I'll  take  the  car,"  said  Mr.  White,  "  and 
drive  over  to  the  Wallace  farm  and  use  their  'phone. 
You  see,  Bob,  we're  going  to  have  a  little  party  on  your 
farm.  We're  going  to  sort  of  take  possession  of  the 
place  and  have  invited  some  of  your  neighbors  to  see 
the  tractor  work." 

"  All  right,"  said  Bob.  "  I'll  try  it  out  myself,  but 
if  I  smash  this  thing,  it  won't  be  my  fault." 


POWER  AND  BANKING  105 

"  Don't  worry  about  smashing  it,  Bob.  Just  give 
her  kerosene  and  keep  her  going,"  said  the  agent. 

After  the  first  round  or  two,  Bob  became  confident 
of  his  abihty  to  handle  the  tractor,  and  began  tO'  reaHze 
how  quickly  and  easily  plowing  could  be  done  by  power. 

He  noticed  Mr.  White  drive  back  to  the  barnyard, 
and  as  soon  as  Mr.  Patterson  had  finished  with  the 
team,  he  unhitched  them  and  took  them  over  and  put 
them  into  the  barn,  then  they  sat  down  in  the  auto 
and  began  to  talk,  leaving  Bob  to  manage  the  tractor 
alone. 

\Vhen  dinner  time  came  he  brought  the  machine 
to  a  standstill  on  the  west  side  of  the  field  nearest  to 
the  barn,  and,  shutting  down  the  motor,  came  quickly 
over  the  freshly  plowed  ground  to  the  barnyard. 

"  That's  certainly  a  fine  way  to  plow,  Mr.  White," 
said  Bob,  his  eyes  sparkling  as  he  contemplated  the 
amount  of  work  done  in  a  quarter  of  a  day. 

"  Sure  is.  Bob,"  said  the  banker.  "  The  greatest 
thing  I've  ever  seen.  Power  certainly  does  beat  horse 
flesh,  and  you  notice.  Bob,  we  only  feed  the  engine 
when  it  is  working." 

"  I  can't  give  you  very  much  of  a  dinner,"  said 
Bob,  apologetically,  "  for  everybody's  away  at  Uncle 
Joe's  wedding,  but  if  you'll  be  satisfied  with  cold  vict- 
uals, I  guess  I  can  fit  you  out." 

"  Bread  and  butter  and  a  glass  of  milk  is  good 
enough  for  me,  Bob,"  laughed  the  banker,  as  they 
started  for  the  house. 


106  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

Bob's  grandmother  had  left  him  well  supplied  with 
food — several  apple  pies,  a  boiled  ham  and  a  weekly 
baking  of  bread  had  been  finished  the  day  before. 
She  had  also  left  the  fire  in  the  kitchen  stove  and  the 
tea-kettle  on,  so  it  didn't  take  Bob  very  long  to  make 
a  pot  of  coffee.  He  brought  some  butter  and  milk 
from  the  milk  cellar  and  they  were  soon  enjoying  the 
-pimple  food. 
^  *'  Bob,"  said  the  banker,  as  he  helped  himself  to  a 
large  heel  off  the  loaf  and  spread  it  thick  with  butter 
and  apple  butter,  "  we  thought  we'd  give  your  Uncle 
Joe  a  wedding  preserrt  by  doing  his  spring  plowing 
for  him.  We  want  to  surprise  him  when  he  comes 
back,  so  I  arranged  with  Mr.  Patterson  to  give  a  dem- 
onstration of  his  tractor  on  your  farm.  We  sent  out 
some  invitations  last  week  to  a  number  of  farmers 
around  here,  asking  them  to  come  here  this  afternoon, 
but  told  them  to  keep  it  quiet  so  your  uncle  wouldn't 
find  out  anything  about  it.  We're  going  to  spend  the 
rest  of  the  afernoon  giving  each  fellow  a  chance  to 
run  the  tractor,  but  to-morrow,  just  to  show  you  what 
the  tractor  can  do,  Mr.  Patterson  is  going  to  take  it  and 
disk  and  harrow  your  ten-acre  field  back  of  the  cider 
mill,  and  then  the  next  day  we  want  you  to  plow  your 
west  bottom  field,  where  your  Uncle  Joe  said  he 
was  going  to  plant  his  spring  wheat  this  year." 

"  When  you  take  charge  of  the  tractor,  Bob,"  said 
the  agent,  "  we're  going  to  let  you  start  with  the 
machine  in  the  barnyard,  take  it  to  the  field,  do  the 


POWER  AND  BANKING  107 

plowing  and  bring  it  back  again  yourself,  and  unless 
you  have  some  bad  luck,  I  don't  think  I'll  have  to  lay 
a  hand  on  it.  Of  course,  I'll  be  here  in  case  you  need 
me,  but  I've  a  notion  the  machine  will  do  the  trick, 
without  my  touching  it." 

"  Why,"  said  Bob  a  moment  later,  realizing  for  the 
first  time  what  it  would  mean  to  have  that  much  plow- 
ing done,  "  our  three  fields  will  all  be  finished  before 
Uncle  Joe  gets  back." 

"  Not  three,  Bob,"  corrected  the  banker,  "  four,  for 
we're  going  to  plow  your  north  field,  too." 

"  Isn't  that  field  too  hilly  for  the  tractor?  "  asked 
Bob. 

"  No,"  replied  the  agent.  "  I've  been  looking  at 
it  and  feel  sure  we  can  manage  it,  although  it's  a  little 
steeper  than  we  usually  recommend  for  tractors,  but 
we  want  to  demonstrate  that  our  machine  will  take 
care  of  all  the  fields  you  have  on  the  farm,  with  the 
exception,  of  course,  of  '  Round  Top,'  which  ought  to 
be  planted  in  fruit  or  something  instead  of  trying  to 
raise  a  grain  crop." 

"  When  does  your  Uncle  Joe  expect  to  get  back, 
Bob?  "  asked  the  banker  a  moment  later,  helping  him- 
self to  a  second  piece  of  pie. 

"  Thursday  afternoon,  I  think,"  replied  Bob. 
"  They're  planning  to  be  back  for  Sunday." 

"  Come  to  think  of  it,  that's  right,"  said  the  banker. 
"  I  overheard  him  tell  Henry  Smith,  who  sold  him  his 
automobile,  to  have  the  car  up  at  the  station  to  meet 


108  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

the  three  o'clock  train  on  Thursday.     He's  evidently 
g'oing  to  bring  his  bride  out  in  style." 

"Can  Uncle  Joe  drive  the  car  already?"  asked 
Bob. 

"  No,  I  don't  think  he's  going  to  try  to  drive  out, 
not  on  the  first  trip  with  his  bride,"  replied  the  banker, 
"  but  I  think  you  can  look  for  them  about  three-thirty." 

"  I'd  like  to  be  hanging  on  behind,"  said  Bob, 
"  about  the  time  they  come  around  the  bend  in  the 
road  by  the  Wallace  Farm,  and  he  sees  his  spring 
plowing  all  done." 

"  That's  a  joke,"  laughed  the  banker,  "  in  which 
we'd  all  like  to  share.  Bob,  but  it  won't  do  him  any 
harm  to  ride  the  rest  of  the  distance  home  wondering 
how  you  managed  to  get  it  all  done." 

When  they  came  out  from  their  dinner  they  found 
two  farmers  had  already  arrived  and  others  kept  drop- 
ping in  by  ones  and  twos,  so  that  before  the  afternoon 
was  over  there  were  almost  two  dozen  rigs  and  auto- 
mobiles standing  around  in  the  barnyard. 

Much  to  his  delight,  Bob  was  allowed  to  drive  the 
tractor,  while  the  agent  stood  among  the  men  and 
explained  its  workings. 

After  a  round  or  two.  Bob  gave  up  the  seat  to  a 
neighboring  farmer,  who  in  turn  gave  way  to  another, 
so  one  by  one  they  tried  the  tractor. 

"  Wish  he  had  picked  out  our  farm  to  demonstrate 
his  plow  on,"  remarked  Alex  Wallace,  as  he  watched 
the  space  in  the  center  of  the  field  rapidly  getting 


POWER  AND  BANKING  109 

smaller.  "  By  the  time  he's  through  demonstrating 
he'll  have  your  field  plowed." 

"  Maybe  you  could  get  him  to  do  it  for  you,  Alex," 
said  Bob.     "  Why  don't  you  ask  him  ?  " 

"  I've  already  done  that,"  replied  Alex,  "  but  he 
wants  to  sell  us  one." 

"Well,  are  you  going  to  buy  one?"  asked  Bob, 
as  they  watched  the  tractor  work. 

"  I  don't  know  what  father'll  do,"  replied  Alex. 
"  Suppose  we'll  have  to  think  it  over." 

When  the  afternoon  sun  got  low,  the  banker  called 
the  men  together  in  the  barnyard  and  said : 

"  There's  something  I  want  to  say  to  you  men,  I 
know  that  some  of  you  are  pretty  hard  pressed  for 
money  just  now,  and  don't  feel  much  like  investing  in 
new  equipment,  but  I've  recently  made  a  careful  sur- 
vey of  the  farming  conditions  in  our  county  and  have 
taken  a  trip  west  to  look  over  what  they're  doing  out 
in  Illinois,  Iowa,  Minnesota  and  the  Dakotas.  In  fact, 
I  was  gone  for  four  weeks  last  summer,  looking  over 
the  situation  generally,  and  I've  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  we've  just  as  good  farms  right  here  in  Pennsyl- 
vania as  they  have  in  any  of  the  western  states — only 
they've  gotten  ahead  of  us  out  there  by  adopting  many 
modern  methods.  There  isn't  a  thing  they  do  out  there, 
though,  that  we  can't  do  right  here.  Another  thing  I 
discovered,  and  that  was  that  the  banks  in  the  West 
are  very  much  more  liberal  to  the  farmers  than  the 
banks  have  been  in  the  East.    I  don't  mind  telling  you," 


110  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

he  said  smiling,  "  that  I  picked  up  a  number  of  pointers 
myself  on  how  to  run  a  bank  and  when  I  got  back  I 
talked  the  matter  over  with  our  board  of  directors. 

"  From  now  on  the  First  National  is  going  to  be 
run  on  different  principles  than  we  have  ever  run  it 
before.  We're  going  to  do  '  Constructive  Banking,' 
which  means  in  plain  English  that  we're  going  to  help 
you  farmers  with  liberal  loans  wherever  we  find  a  man 
who's  progressive  and  working  intelligently.  We're 
fitting  up  a  special  room  in  the  bank  that  we're  going 
to  call  our  *  Bureau  of  Farm  Information  ' ;  we're  going 
to  put  a  capable  man  in  charge  of  it  to  answer  ques- 
tions; we're  sending  down  to  the  Bureau  of  Agricul- 
ture at  Washington  for  a  lot  of  farm  bulletins  on  every 
subject  of  interest  to  you  men,  also  to  manufacturers 
of  farm  machinery  and  other  appliances  that  can  be 
used  on  the  farm.  The  manufacturers  of  Portland 
Cement  are  fitting  us  up  with  a  complete  line  of  litera- 
ture on  farm  buildings  and  how  to  build  them.  In  fact, 
there  won't  be  any  information  connected  with  a  farm, 
its  equipment  or  the  construction  of  farm  buildings  that 
we  won't  be  able  to  give  you.  There's  some  of  you 
men  here  who  don't  do  your  banking  with  us — you're 
just  as  welcome  to  the  information  as  the  others.  We 
want  you  to  make  this  your  room  when  you  come  to 
town — it  will  be  open  every  day  from  eight  o'clock  in 
the  morning  until  six  o'clock  in  the  evening.  There'll 
be  tables  there  where  you  can  do  any  writing  you  want, 
and  a  billboard  to  stick  up  notices  of  anything  you've 


POWER  AND  BANKING  111 

got  for  sale.  I  hope  you'll  make  good  use  of  the  Bu- 
reau. Tell  your  wives  we're  going  to  have  a  special 
lot  of  literature  for  them  on  canning  and  evaporation  of 
fruits  and  vegetables,  raising  poultry  and  dairy  work 
and  bees.  Tell  them  to  come  in  and  use  the  room  as 
much  as  they  like.  We've  provided  for  their 
comforts." 

"  Well,  it  sounds  pretty  fine,  Mr.  White,"  said  Billy 
Waterson,  "  especially  the  loans.  I'll  be  in  to  see  you 
myself  on  Saturday." 

"  Yes,  come  in,  Billy,  and  tell  me  about  your  needs," 
invited  the  banker.  "  We'll  no  doubt  be  able  to  help 
you." 

The  last  of  the  farmers  had  scarcely  gone  when 
Bob's  grandparents  came  driving  up  the  lane. 

"  Has  any  one  died,  Bob?  "  asked  his  grandfather, 
as  soon  as  he  got  near  enough  to  be  heard. 

"  Why?  "  asked  Bob  smiling. 

"  Well,  I  saw  many  rigs  going  down  the  road 
as  we  came  by  the  Wallace  farm  .  One  or  two  of  them, 
I  thought,  came  out  of  our  lane." 

"  No,"  said  Bob,  "  no  one's  dead,  but,"  with  a  wave 
of  his  hand  toward  the  newly  plowed  field,  "  the  old 
method  of  plowing  with  horse  flesh  passed  away  this 
afternoon." 

"  I  noticed,  Bob,  as  soon  as  I  came  around  the  bend 
in  the  road  that  the  field  was  plowed,  and  I  was  going 
to  ask  you  about  it.  How  did  you  get  it  done  so 
quickly?  Were  some  of  the  neighbors  over  here  with 
their  teams  helping  you  ?  " 


112  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  No,"  said  Bob,  "  come  here  a  minute  and  I'll  show 
you  something,"  and  he  took  his  grandfather,  who  had 
alighted  from  the  buggy,  over  to  the  wagon  shed  in 
which  the  tractor  stood. 

'' Where'd  that  come  from?"  asked  his  grand- 
father, looking  at  it  curiously.  "  Has  Joe  gone  and 
bought  a  tractor,  too?  " 

"  No,  not  yet,"  laughed  Bob,  "  but  I  guess  he  will 
when  he  gets  back  and  sees  how  much  work  it  can  do." 

"  They  must  cost  a  lot  of  money,  Bob,"  said  his 
grandfather. 

"  Not  as  much  as  you  might  think,"  replied  Bob, 
using  the  phrase  he  heard  Mr.  Patterson  use  in  talking 
to  the  farmers  that  afternoon.  "  Not  when  you  take 
into  account  how  much  they  can  do." 

"  I  should  like  to  have  seen  it  work,"  said  his  grand- 
father interested. 

"  Well,  you'll  see  it,  all  right,"  said  Bob,  "  because 
Mr.  Patterson's  going  to  plow  the  other  three  fields 
before  he  leaves." 

"  How  long  does  he  calculate  it'll  take  him  to  finish, 
Bob?"  inquired  his  grandfather. 

"  He  expects  to  get  done  by  noon  on  Thursday." 

"  It  can't  be  done,"  said  his  grandfather  incredu- 
lously. 

"  Well,  he  says  it  can,"  laughed  Bob,  "  and  to-mor- 
row morning  you'll  see." 


RUNNING  WATER 

Bob  was  up  bright  and  early  the  next  morning  and 
had  his  chores  all  done  by  the  time  Mr.  Patterson 
came  back  from  town,  where  he  had  gone  the  night 
before  for  a  supply  of  kerosene. 

As  soon  as  breakfast  was  over  the  tractor  was 
driven  out  to  the  field  back  of  the  cider  mill,  and,  with 
the  agent  in  the  seat,  started  off  on  its  rounds.  In  this 
field  corn  had  been  raised  the  year  before,  and  it  would 
be  planted  in  oats  this  year,  so  the  plow  was  omitted 
and  the  double  disk  and  spike-toothed  harrow  used. 
Bob  and  his  grandfather  stood  for  a  half  hour  watching 
it  work,  then  Bob  went  to  the  barn  and  got  out  the 
team  and  began  plowing  the  garden,  which  adjoined 
the  field  in  which  the  tractor  was  working. 

When  they  knocked  off  at  noon,  the  relative  amount 
of  work  done  by  each  was  very  apparent,  for  the  ten- 
acre  field  was  more  than  half  finished  in  the  same  time 
it  had  taken  Bob  to  finish  less  than  an  acre  of  garden 
patch,  and  by  six  o'clock  the  entire  field  was  completed. 

The  next  day  Bob  took  charge  of  the  tractor  and 
succeeded  in  doing  almost  as  well  in  plowing  their 
west  bottom  field  as  Mr.  Patterson  had  done  the  day 
before,  although  it  took  him  until  seven  o'clock  in  the 
evening  to  finish  the  entire  ten  acres. 

8  113 


114  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

Thursday  morning  everything  on  the  farm  was 
excitement.  Bob  started  to  clean  up  the  corners  of  the 
west  field  with  the  plow  and  team,  while  Mr.  Patterson 
started  plowing  the  hilly  north  field,  so  that  everything 
would  be  finished  by  the  time  Bob's  uncle  arrived. 

It  seemed  to  Bob,  as  he  watched  the  tractor  work, 
that  the  hilly  field  was  requiring  more  time  to  complete 
than  they  had  figured,  for  by  noon  the  field  was  not 
much  more  than  half  done,  so  he  asked  Mr.  Patterson 
at  dinner  if  the  plow  worked  slower  on  hilly  ground. 

"  Of  course.  Bob,  we  can't  make  the  time  there  that 
we  can  on  the  level,  but  I've  been  taking  it  kind  of 
easy,  loafing  a  little  this  morning  so  the  tractor  would 
be  working  when  your  uncle  comes  home  this 
afternoon." 

In  this,  however,  he  was  disappointed,  for  the  auto- 
mobile did  not  arrive  until  after  five  o'clock,  an  hour 
after  the  tractor  had  been  run  into  the  barnyard,  where 
the  agent  left  it  and  drove  to  town  in  his  auto. 

Bob  was  in  the  barnyard  waiting  to  greet  his  aunt 
and  uncle  when  Henry  Smith  drove  up.  His  uncle, 
however,  did  not  wait  until  they  had  alighted  to  ask 
Bob  the  question  which  was  uppermost  in  his  mind, 
but  shouted  to  him  as  soon  as  the  car  swung  up  the 
hill  into  the  yard. 

"  How  in  the  world  did  you  ever  get  the  plowing 
all  done  so  soon,  Bob?  "  he  called. 

Without  replying,  Bob  waved  his  hand  toward  the 
tractor. 


RUNNING  WATER  115 

"  Where'd  that  come  from?"  asked  his  uncle,  as 
he  helped  his  bride  from  the  auto. 

"  Oh,''  laughed  Bob,  as  he  stepped  forward  to  shake 
hands  with  them,  "  that's  another  of  John  White's 
jokes.  He's  had  nearly  everybody  in  the  county  out 
here  on  the  farm  while  you  were  away,  showing  them 
how  easy  it  is  to  plow  with  power." 

**  Well,  Bob,  I  don't  want  your  Uncle  Joe  to  get 
married  again  soon,"  laughed  his  new  aunt,  "  but  it 
does  seem  to  have  been  lucky  for  him  this  time,  for 
you've  certainly  got  more  plowing  done  while  he  was 
away  getting  married  than  he'd  have  gotten  if  he  stayed 
at  home,"  as,  much  to  Bob's  embarrassment,  she  sud- 
denly bent  over  and  kissed  him.  "  Things  seem  to  be 
moving  faster  on  the  farm.  Bob,  since  you  and  your 
Uncle  Joe  started  working  together,"  she  laughed,  as 
they  all  started  for  the  house. 

Bob  could  not  remember  any  time  in  his  life  when 
he  had  been  quite  so  happy  as  he  was  that  night  at 
supper,  sitting  in  silence  opposite  his  new  aunt,  listening 
to  the  story  of  the  wedding  and  honeymoon.  There  was 
something  about  the  frank  open  smile  that  she  bestowed 
upon  him  from  time  to  time  which',  established  her  in 
his  confidence,  and  made  him  feel  that  the  coming  sum- 
mer was  going  to  be  a  very  pleasant  one. 

He  wondered  what  shape  the  first  suggestion  for 
improvement  by  his  aunt  might  take,  but  he  didn't 
have  long  to  wait,  for  the  very  next  morning  at  break- 
fast she  turned  to  her  husband  and  said : 


116  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  Have  you  figured  out  yet,  Joe,  how  much  pipe 
it  will  take  to  bring  the  water  from  the  spring  into  the 
house?  I  think  we  should  arrange  for  running  water 
in  the  kitchen  and  put  in  a  bathroom,  and  I  have  also 
been  thinking  that,  instead  of  using  the  small  room 
beyond  the  kitchen  as  a  pantry,  we  could  do  away  with 
that  and  fit  up  a  washroom,  with  a  toilet  and  shower 
for  the  men.  A  farmer  is  just  as  much  entitled  to  a 
shower  after  his  day's  work  as  a  golf  player  and  is 
even  more  benefited  by  its  use.  We  could  easily  make 
a  cellar  under  it  for  the  hot-water  heater  and  supply 
hot  water  to  the  kitchen,  washroom  and  the  bathroom-- 
on  the  second  floor,  as  well  as  the  laundry.  I've  been 
looking  up  the  cost  of  plumbing  and  don't  think  the 
whole  thing  would  cost  more  than  five  or  six  hundred 
dollars,  exclusive  of  digging  the  trench." 

When  his  aunt  began  to  speak,  Bob  scanned  the 
face  of  his  uncle,  and  he  noticed  that  while  his  uncle 
smiled  and  said  he  would  have  to  look  into  the  matter, 
Bob  noticed  his  brow  contract  in  a  way  that  spoke 
ill  of  the  project  being  carried  out — at  least  at  the 
present  time. 

Now  that  the  plowing  had  been  done,  it  was  decided 
that  they  would  spend  a  few  days  in  cleaning  out  the 
fence  rows  and  repairing  fences,  and  as  they  were 
leaving  for  this  work  shortly  after  breakfast.  Bob 
made  a  discovery.  His  aunt  came  into  the  woodshed 
where  they  were  getting  out  their  mattocks  and  brush 
hooks  and  said : 


RUNNING  WATER  117 

"  There  are  a  few  things  I  wanted  to  get  in  town 
to-day,  Joe,  so  I'll  take  the  car  and  drive  in." 

"  Why,  you  can't  drive  yet,  Bettie,"  declared  her 
astonished  husband. 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  can,"  she  laughed.  "  I  have  my  license, 
too.  I  learned  last  summer.  While  I'm  in  town,  I'll 
speak  to  a  plumber  about  the  work,  and  I  think,  too, 
we  should  also  have  a  telephone  put  in.  It  will  be  quite 
awkward  getting  along  without  one." 

"  All  right,  Bettie,"  said  her  husband.  "It  will  do 
no  harm  to  get  a  price  on  them,  even  though  we  won't 
get  them  until  fall,"  and  he  kissed  her  good-by  and 
started  for  the  field. 

She  certainly  doesn't  let  her  ideas  get  cold,  thought 
Bob,  as  he  walked  along  with  his  uncle,  and,  after  all, 
it  would  not  cost  any  more  tO'  put  the  water  in  now 
than  it  would  in  the  fall,  and  besides  they'd  have  the 
use  of  it  all  summer. 

That  night  after  the  chores  were  finished  and  the 
supper  dishes  were  put  away,  his  uncle  and  aunt 
adjourned  to  the  sitting  room,  where  Bob  noticed  a 
fine  reading  lamp,  surrounded  by  magazines  and  farm 
bulletins,  had  been  placed  in  the  center  of  a  large  oak 
table. 

"  Come  into  the  sitting  room.  Bob,"  called  his  aunt, 
when  he  returned  to  the  kitchen  after  doing  his  chores. 
"  I  want  to  show  you  the  pictures  of  our  new  bathroom 
fixtures  I  got  from  the  plumber  to-day." 

It  was  only  natural  that  Bob  should  have  wondered 


118  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

just  how  far  his  aunt  and  uncle  would  take  him  into 
their  confidence  in  the  planning  of  the  work  on  the 
farm,  and  he  was  not  only  relieved  but  very  much 
pleased  at  her  early  invitation  to  their  conferences, 
having  to  do  with  improvements  and  the  expenditure 
of  money.  He  took  it  as  a  compliment  to  his  interest 
in  the  fann  work,  and  felt  nothing  would  be  too  hard 
for  him  to  undertake  while  his  Aunt  Bettie  followed 
the  results. 

"  Here's  the  plumber's  estimate,  Joe,"  she  said, 
opening  a  letter.  "  He  wants  $250  for  the  bathroom 
and  washroom  equipment,  including  a  four-foot  white 
enamel  wash  sink  with  soap  dishes  and  tempering 
faucets.  You  see,  by  putting  in  a  sink  of  this  sort,  the 
hot  and  cold  water  is  mixed  as  it  comes  through  the 
faucet,  and  all  the  dirty  water  runs  away  so  that  you 
can  always  wash  in  clean  water,  which  is  better  than 
filling  a  boavl.  This  four-foot  sink  will  allow  two 
people  to  wash  at  once.  This  is  the  hot-water  heater 
that  we  will  put  in  the  cellar.  It  will  mean  the  putting 
in  of  a  new  door  and  steps  on  the  north  side  of  the 
building  for  taking  out  the  ashes.  That  will  be  some 
concrete  work  for  you,  Bob,"  she  smiled  across  to  him. 
"  The  heater  will  keep  the  floor  of  the  washroom  warm 
in  winter  and  prevent  the  pipes  from  freezing.  We 
ought  to  take  out  the  wood  floor  of  the  washroom  and 
put  in  a  concrete  floor,  but  I  think  the  wood  floor  will 
have  to  answer  until  we  build  our  new  house.  The 
plumber  said  he  could  manage  this  by  putting  in  a  gal- 


RUNNING  WATER  119 

vanized  iron  tray  on  the  floor  under  the  shower  and 
connecting  it  to  the  waste  pipes.  If  you  are  careful 
when  you  use  the  shower  and  not  splash  the  water  too 
much  over  the  wood  floor,  I  guess  we  can  get  along 
with  this  arrangement.  This,  however,  doesn't  include 
the  cost  of  bringing  the  water  down  from  the  spring. 
I  thought,  inasmuch  as  our  plowing  and  harrowing 
had  been  done  so  soon,  you  could  take  the  time  off,  Joe, 
to  dig  the  ditch  and  put  in  the  pipe  yourself.  A  one- 
inch  galvanized  genuine  wrought-iron  pipe  will  cost 
ten  cents  per  running  foot  and  a  two-inch  pipe  twenty- 
two  cents  per  foot." 

"  A  one-inch  pipe  ought  to  be  big  enough,"  said 
Joe,  "  to  supply  all  the  water  we  want." 

"  Yes,  perhaps  it  would  be  for  the  house  alone," 
she  replied,  "  but  then  there's  the  barn  and  the  hen 
house  and  the  new  dairy  house  to  take  into  account, 
besides  a  watering  trough  in  the  barnyard  and  water 
bowls  in  the  new  cow  bam  for  each  cow,  and  I  think 
for  all  these  we  really  ought  to  have  at  least  a  two- 
inch  pipe,  so  that  the  pipe  will  be  in  for  all  time,  and, 
of  course,  it  would  not  pay  to  use  steel  pipe — that 
would  rust  too  quickly.  The  hard  job  will  be  the  dig- 
ging of  the  ditch,  for  the  pipe  ought  to  be  at  least  three 
and  a  half  feet  to  four  feet  underground,  so  as  to 
be  sure  it  will  not  freeze  up  during  the  winter" 

"  Don't  you  think  we  ought  to  build  new  concrete 
walls  and  put  a  cover  on  the  spring,  Aunt  Bettie?" 


120  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

inquired  Bob,  "  so  that  nothing  can  get  into  the  spring 
to  foul  the  water?  " 

"  That  would  be  a  good  idea,  Bob.  Do  you  sup- 
pose you  could  make  a  rough  sketch  and  figure  out 
how  much  concrete  it  would  take  to  do  that?  " 

"  Why,  there's  a  sketch  in  one  of  the  concerte  bul- 
letins that  shows  how  that  can  be  done,"  replied  Bob. 
"  I'll  get  the  book  right  away,"  he  said. 

"  Bring  your  bulletins  down  to  the  sitting  room 
and  leave  them  on  the  table,  Bob,"  called  his  aunt, 
"  that  is,  if  you  don't  mind.  Perhaps  it  would  be 
well  if  they  were  all  here  so  we  could  all  see  them." 

"  All  right,"  said  Bob. 

He  returned  a  few  minutes  later  and  after  look- 
ing up  the  suggestion  set  to  work,  and  by  nine  o'clock 
a  rough  sketch  for  enclosing  the  spring  had  been  made. 
It  would  require  thirteen  hundred  and  fifty  feet  of 
two-inch  pipe  to  bring  the  water  to  the  house,  which 
would  cost  $297  and  the  probable  cost  of  the  ditch 
would  be  $625.  When  the  figures  were  all  put  together 
it  was  found  the  improvement  would  mean  an  outlay 
of  $1172,  if  they  paid  to  have  the  ditch  dug,  but,  of 
course,  they  could  save  $625,  by  doing  the  digging 
themselves. 

"  I'd  like  you  to  have  the  water  in  the  house,  Bet- 
tie,"  said  her  husband,  as  he  rose  to  retire,  much 
worried  at  the  large  amount  of  money,  "  but  on  top  of 
all  the  expenditures  we  have  made  already,  I  don't 
think  it  would  be  possible  to  put  it  in  at  this  time." 


RUNNING  WATER  121 

"  Well,  we  won't  decide  tonight,  Joe,"  his  wife 
said,  smiling.  "  I  think  it  is  always  best  to  think  such 
matters  over  carefully  before  we  undertake  them." 

All  during  the  next  day  it  was  quite  evident  to  Bob 
that  his  uncle  was  puzzled  and  worried.  On  the  impulse 
of  the  moment  he  had  been  persuaded  by  John  White, 
president  of  the  First  National  Bank,  to  invest  in  what 
he  considered  a  very  much  larger  equipment  of  live  stock 
than  he  would  otherwise  have  done,  and  he  had  also 
allowed  White  to  persuade  him  to  spend  $1500  for  the 
tractor,  plow,  disk  and  harrow.  The  chances  of  mak- 
ing the  farm  earn  enough  to  take  care  of  the  interest 
on  his  obligations  at  the  bank  and  perhaps  pay  off  some- 
thing on  the  principal,  looked  all  right  while  John 
White  was  explaining  it,  but  now  that  he  had  had  suf- 
ficient time  to  reflect  on  the  matter,  he  felt  that  per- 
haps he  had  overstrained  his  resources  in  taking  on  this 
additional  financial  burden. 

It  was  not  the  six  per  cent,  interest  that  worried 
him  so  much  as  the  fact  that  Bettie  wanted  to  spend 
almost  $1200  to  repair  the  house  from  which  there 
could  be  no  returns — the  cost  of  which  would  have 
to  be  earned  just  the  same.  He  was  particularly  silent 
and  abrupt  with  Bob  as  they  worked  upon  the  fence 
rows  and  scolded  him  severely  when  he  did  not  antici- 
pate his  wishes  in  the  matter  of  placing  the  rails  for 
the  repairs  of  the  fence.  He  scolded  him  unmercifully 
when,  through  his  eagerness  to  please  him,  he  happened 
to  drop  the  sharp  corner  of  a  rail  on  his  uncle's  hand. 


122  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

It  was  in  this  state  of  mind  that  Joe  WiUiams  came  in  to 
supper  that  evening  to  greet  his  smiling  wife. 

Nothing  was  said  during  supper  about  putting  in 
running  water  and  fitting  up  a  new  bathroom,  but 
Bob  noticed  the  roller  towel  and  horn  comb  had  dis- 
appeared and  that  each  had  their  own  towel,  brush  and 
comb.  When  the  supper  dishes  had  been  put  away,  and 
they  had  all  adjourned  to  the  sitting  room,  Bob's  aunt 
opened  the  drawer  in  the  sitting-room  table  and  took 
out  several  sheets  of  carefully  compiled  figures,  which 
she  handed  over  to  her  husband. 

"What's  this,  Bettie?  "  he  asked,  taking  up  the 
papers. 

"  That,  Joe,  is  an  inventory  of  our  assets  and  liabil- 
ities," she  answered  smiling. 

"Well,  does  it  look  as  bad  as  it  sounds?  "  laughed 
her  husband,  as  he  took  up  the  statement  and  glanced 
at  it  hurriedly.  "  What's  it  all  about,  Bettie,  and  why 
have  you  been  worrying  your  head  with  figures 
to-day?  "  he  said,  placing  the  papers  on  the  table,  with- 
out seeming  to  comprehend  their  meaning. 

"  I've  been  thinking  for  several  days,  Joe,  that  we 
should  know  where  we  stand  in  the  matter  of  the  cost 
of  our  farm  and  equipment,  so  that  we  can  figure 
out  our  possible  income  and  profit.  I  don't  think  it 
would  be  wise  to  go  ahead  and  buy  and  sell  without 
knowing  in  advance  the  value  of  everything  we  own; 
the  amount  of  money  we're  obligated  for  in  the  way  of 
loans  and  have  estimated  the  probable  cost  of  carrying 


RUNNING  WATER  123 

on  the  work  through  harvest,  and  what  our  crops  and 
produce  ought  to  sell  for." 

Item  INVENTORY  april  15, 1916 

Farm,  160  acres $6,000.00 

Q>ws: 

10 head® $175   i,75o.oo 

8  head  @   $60    480.00 

Bull,  I  head  @  $350 350.oo 

Calves,  4  head  @  $io 40.00 

Horses : 

2  head  @  $350   700.00 

2  head  @  $200   400.00 

Hogs: 

5  head  @  $40    200.00 

6  head  @  $30   180.00 

Sheep,  12  head  @  $20 240.00 

Chickens 50.00 

Machinery  and  Tools 125.00 

Automobile 440.00 

Feed  and  Supplies 300.00 

Growing  Crops  (Labor  and  Seed)    180.00 

Cash  110.00 

Bills  Receivable  75oo 

Total  Resources $1 1,620.00 

Mortgage  and  Bills  Payable 6,000.00 

Net  Worth  $5,620.00 

"  I  have  started  with  to-day,  April  i,  19 16,  but 
next  year  it  will  be  better  to  take  our  inventory  so  that 
we  can  start  on  March  ist,  which  will  be  just  before 
the  spring  work  starts.  Then  we  can  see  what  our  gain 
is  for  the  year.    We'll  have  to  run  separate  accounts  for 


124  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

all  our  crops  and  stock  as  well  as  feed  and  labor  in 
order  to  see  what  the  gain  or  loss  is  on  any  item.  After 
we  get  them  started,  it  will  take  only  a  few  minutes 
each  day  to  keep  them  up  to  date." 

''  Here,  you  see,"  she  continued,  as  she  walked 
around  the  table  and  sat  on  the  arm  of  his  chair,  "  I've 
listed  the  farm  at  its  probable  value — $6000." 

"  But  you  have  listed  it  at  $2000  more  than  I  paid 
for  it,"  protested  her  husband. 

"  That's  because  it's  worth  $2000  more  than  when 
you  bought  it,"  she  laughed,  "  for  with  the  new  ditch 
you  have  added  fifteen  tillable  acres  and  we  still  have 
a  pond  and  a  better  driveway  up  to  the  barn.  Then,  of 
course,  I've  included  in  the  improvements  the  running 
water  and  bathroom  equipment." 

"  We've  not  decided  to  put  that  in  yet,"  said  her 
husband  quickly,  to  which  she  made  noi  reply. 

"  Then  you  see,  I've  listed  our  stock  and  equipment 
at  $5520.  These  added  together  make  our  assets  total 
$11,520.  You  have  already  obligated  yourself  at  the 
First  National  Bank  for  $5400,  and  when  we  get  the 
loan  for  the  running  water,  it  will  make  a  total  of 
about  $6000." 

At  the  mention  of  a  further  loan,  Bob  noticed  his 
uncle's  brow  contracting  in  a  way  that  did  not  speak 
well  for  the  installation  of  the  running  water. 

"  But  you're  missing  the  best  item  of  all,  Joe,"  said 
his  wife,  "  the  sand  pit.  I  was  talking  to  Mr.  White 
about  this  when  I  was  in  town  yesterday,  and  he  feels 


RUNNING  WATER  125 

sure  that  by  the  time  Mr.  Brady  gets  all  the  sand  he 
requires  for  the  railroad  work,  they  will  be  making 
concrete  roads  throughout  the  county  and  that  there'll 
be  a  big  demand  for  this  pit.  While  I  don't  know 
exactly  how  big  the  pit  is,  I've  estim.ated  that  it  con- 
tains thirty  thousand  yards.  If  we  figure  this  at  50 
cents  per  yard,  the  price  Mr.  Brady  is  paying,  it  will 
bring  us  $15,000." 

"  But  I'm  afraid  those  are  only  day  dreams,  Bettie," 
laughed  her  husband  good-naturedly;  "  it  couldn't  be 
possible  that  so  much  money  could  be  gotten  out  of 
a  sand  pit." 

"  Why  not?  "  asked  his  wife.  "  In  New  England 
there  are  many  large  supply  companies  who  make  a 
business  of  digging,  washing  and  selling  sand  and 
gravel  and  carry  on  a  ver}^  large  business  in  this  mate- 
rial. You  have  no  idea  what  a  hold  concrete  is  getting 
on  the  country  these  days.  It's  such  an  excellent 
material  in  the  first  place,  and  besides  it's  sO'  cheap  and 
easily  handled  that  any  one  can  build  all  manner  of 
structures  with  it.  So  you  see,  Joe,"  she  added,  smil- 
ing up  at  him,  "  if  the  farm  doesn't  pay  a  penny  for 
an  entire  year,  and  we  don't  sell  any  sand  besides  what 
Mr.  Brady  has  agreed  to  take  after  paying  for  the 
improvements  that  he  is  making,  we'll  still  have  more 
than  enough  money  coming  from  the  sand  pit  alone 
to  pay  the  interest  on  all  our  obligations  and  leave  us 
$2500  to  $5000.  I  know  we're  going  to  have  some- 
thing good  from  the  farm  itself,  besides.     So  I'm  in 


126  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

favor  of  not  only  putting  in  running  water  in  the  bath- 
room, but  building  the  new  dairy  house  at  the  same 
time.  The  cellar  under  the  kitchen  here  is  a  bad  place 
to  keep  the  milk  and  the  work  is  very  much  increased 
on  account  of  having  to  carry  the  ice  down  there. 
Besides,  the  floor  is  damp  and  the  place  has  a  musty 
odor." 

"  How  much  will  a  dairy  house  cost  as  you  are 
planning  to  build  it,  Bettie?  "  asked  her  husband,  look- 
ing up  hopelessly. 

"  I  don't  know  exactly,  Joe,"  she  replied,  glancing 
across  the  table  at  Bob,  "  but  we've  been  looking  over 
the  bulletins  and  as  near  as  we  can  estimate,  it  ought  not 
to  cost  more  than  $300  for  a  dairy  house  alone,  but 
when  we  build  the  new  dairy  house,  I  think  we  should 
abandon  this  old  wooden  ice  house  that  keeps  the  yard 
all  mussed  up  with  sawdust — ^besides,  you  have  to  cut 
from  thirty  to  fifty  per  cent,  more  ice  than  we  really 
use  in  order  to  provide  for  the  great  waste  in  such  a 
poorly  built  house.  Now,  if  we  build  our  ice  house  in 
connection  with  the  dairy  house,  it  will  be  better  pro- 
tected and  the  waste  will  be  practically  eliminated. 
Besides,  we  can  have  a  refrigerator  built  in  under  the 
ice  to  keep  butter,  meat  and  poultry,  which  is  some- 
thing we  don't  have  now,  the  way  the  ice  house  is 
built.  Get  the  sketches,  Bob,  that  you  and  I  were  talk- 
ing over  and  show  them  to  your  uncle,"  said  his  aunt 
smiling,  seeing  that  she  had  won  her  point. 

As  Bob's  grandmother  passed  through  the  sitting 


RUNNING  WATER  127 

room  on  her  way  to  bed  that  evening,  she  saw  three 
heads  close  together  bending  eagerly  over  the  sketches, 
while  Bob  and  his  aunt  in  turn  explained  to  Joe  Wil- 
liams the  design  and  advantages  of  a  modern  dairy  and 
ice  house  combined. 

"  H'm!  "  she  sniffed  to  herself.  "  Joe's  new  wife 
is  certainly  starting  in  early  to  spend  his  money  for 
him.  He'll  find  out  it's  easier  to  spend  money  than  it 
is  to  make  it,  and  I'll  be  glad  when  I  get  away  from 
here  so  that  they  can't  say  I  helped  to  put  him  in  the 
poorhouse." 


XI 


TONY 


<( 


Good  morning,  son — is  your  uncle  around?" 
inquired  Mr.  Brady,  the  following  Monday  morning  as 
Bob  was  getting  ready  to  start  'work  digging  the 
trench  for  the  new  water  supply. 

"  He's  in  the  woodshed  now,"  replied  Bob,  "  but 
he'll  be  out  here  in  a  few  minutes." 

"  How  do  you  like  the  ditch,  son?  " 

"  It's  a  fine  job,  Mr.  Brady,"  replied  Bob.  "  When 
are  you  going  to  put  in  the  cement  drain  tile?  " 

"  They  ought  to  be  here  to-day  and  it  won't  take 
long  to  put  them  in,  once  they're  here.  The  digging's 
all  done  already.  I've  a  lot  of  men  coming  to-morrow, 
and  I'll  make  a  short  job  of  that  and  the  building  of 
the  dam.  What  I  wanted  to  see  your  uncle  about  was, 
when's  he  going  to  put  a  man  on  at  the  gravel  pit  so 
we  can  start  taking  gravel  away.  We'll  have  to  screen 
some  sand  for  face  work,  but  in  most  cases  I  expect  to 
use  the  sand  and  gravel  together,  just  as  it  comes  from 
the  pit." 

"  Won't  you  have  to  measure  it  out,"  asked  Bob, 
*'  to  get  the  right  aggregate?  " 

"  In  most  cases  we  would,  son,"  answered  the  con- 
tractor, "  but  your  pit  is  running  just  about  right — 
twice  as  much  gravel  as  sand,  which  makes  a  very  good 

128 


TONY  129 

concrete,  so  as  soon  as  we  get  through  with  the  steam 
shovel  at  the  dam  I  want  to  put  it  up  in  the  pit  and  start 
my  trucks  hauHng  sand  to  the  railroad  bridges.  The 
engineer  tells  me  he'll  be  ready  for  me  with  his  lines  by 
the  end  of  the  week. 

"Oh,  good  morning,  Mr.  Williams!"  said  the 
contractor,  as  Bob's  imcle  approached.  "How  about 
the  man  to  take  care  of  the  tickets  at  the  sand  pit  ?  " 

"  By  George,  I  forgot  all  about  that!  "  exclaimed 
Joe  Williams.  "  You'll  have  to  excuse  me,  Mr.  Brady. 
I  was  pretty  busy  last  week  with  getting  married  and 
everything  and  forgot  all  about  the  man.  That  reminds 
me,  John  White  was  speaking  to  me  about  a  man  the 
other  day  for  some  light  work  on  the  farm,  but  if  I 
can't  locate  one  within,  a  day  or  two,  I'll  let  you  put 
one  of  your  men  on." 

"  All  right.  I  want  to  begin  taking  sand  away  by 
Monday  at  the  latest,"  said  the  contractor.  "  Some 
activities,  Mr.  Williams,  you're  having  around  here, 
what  with  the  steam  shovel  working  in  the  ditch  and 
a  tractor  plow  working  in  the  fields.  We've  had  about 
everybody  in  the  county  stopping  here  within  the  last 
week  inquiring  what's  going  on.  I've  had  a  lot  of  fun 
out  of  it,  too,"  he  laughed. 

"  How's  that?  "  inquired  Joe  Williams. 

"  Well,"  said  the  contractor,  winking  at  Bob,  "  I 
told  everybody  who  asked  that  we  were  digging  for 
*  Hidden  Treasure,'  and  do  you  know,  some  of  them 
beliered  me." 

9 


130  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"That's  right,"  said  Bob,  "we  are  digging  for 
'  Hidden  Treasure,'  and  what's  more,  Mr.  Brady,  we're 
finding  it." 

"  I  think  if  I  were  to  stay  around  with  you  very 
long,  sonny,  you'd  be  after  making  me  believe  the  moon 
was  made  of  green  cheese,  as  they  say  in  Ireland,  but 
with  you  charging  me  fifty  cents  a  yard  for  sand,  I 
know  you're  making  money  all  right.  But  you're  wast- 
ing your  time  here  on  the  farm,  me  boy — it's  a  con- 
tractor you  should  be." 

"  I  don't  agree  with  you,  Mr.  Brady.  I  think  farm- 
ing is  the  best  of  all.  Building  is  interesting,  of  course, 
but  planting  crops  and  raising  cattle  and  seeing  things 
grow  is  the  most  interesting  thing  in  the  world  to  me, 
and  I'm  going  to  be  a  farmer.  I  like  to  hear  the  birds 
sing  while  I'm  working." 

"  Oh,  but  we've  birds  singing  in  the  contracting 
business,  too,  for  what's  sweeter  music  to  the  ear  than 
the  puffing  of  a  hoisting  engine,  or  the  rattling  of  the 
chains  oif  a  steam  shovel?  Music  is  music  the  world 
over — it's  only  a  matter  of  education  the  kind  we 
enjoy  most.  Now,  to  me,  the  escaping  steam  is  the 
sweetest  music  I  know,  for  it  means  dollars  to  me ;  but 
I  must  be  looking  after  me  work  instead  of  standing 
here  blarneying  with  you  all  the  morning." 

"  I  wish  we  had  your  men  to  dig  our  trench  for 
the  new  water  supply,  Brady,"  said  Joe  Williams. 

"  How  deep  do  you  want  it?  "  asked  the  contractor. 

"  About  four  feet.     I  guess  that's  the  depth  you 


TONY  131 

wanted  to  make  it,  Bob?"  he  asked  turning  to  his 
nephew. 

"  Yes,  Uncle  Joe,"  he  repHed. 
"  Say,    Williams,    you're   wasting   time   and   good 
muscle  digging  that  trench.     Let  me  dig  it  for  you  in 
two  days." 

"What — in  two  days!"  exclaimed  Joe  Williams. 
"You  surely  couldn't  use  your  steam  shovel  for  that 
job,  it  would  be  too  big  and  heavy." 

"  I'll  be  using  no  steam  shovel,  Williams,"  said  the 
contractor.     "  I'll  use  dynamite." 

"  Why,  how  could  you  do  that?  "  asked  Bob,  inter- 
ested at  once. 

"  Sure,  my  boy,  there's  many  easier  ways  than  dig- 
ging a  trench  with  a  pick  and  shovel.  I  have  some 
dynamite  in  town  now  that  would  be  just  the  thing 
to  blast  out  your  trench.  Of  course,  it  will  scatter  the 
dirt  around  some,  for  dynamite  is  usually  used  to  make 
an  open  ditch  rather  than  one  that  is  to  be  re-filled,  but 
it  will  be  less  work  to  gather  up  the  dirt  than  to  dig 
through  the  hard  shale,  and  that  reminds  me,"  he  con- 
tinued, "  when  you  come  to  put  in  your  concrete  fence 
posts,  don't  break  your  back  digging  holes  if  you  strike 
hard  shale ;  just  put  in  a  stick  of  dynamite  and  loosen 
her  up — you'll  find  it  will  save  you  lots  of  backaches." 

"  How  much  would  it  cost,  Brady?  "  asked  Joe  Wil- 
liams much  interested. 

"  Let  me  see,"  said  the  contractor.  "  You  say  it's 
about  1400  feet  long  and  four  feet  deep.     That  will 


132  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

mean  putting  down  470  holes,  three  feet  six  inches 
deep,  and  require  360  pounds  of  dynamite." 

He  figured  for  a  moment  on  a  memorandum  pad 
and  added : 

"  I'll  do  the  whole  job  for  $100.00,  which  is  about 
one- fourth  of  what  it  will  cost  you  to  open  up  the 
ditch,  and  I'll  complete  it  in  two  days.  You  may  have 
to  level  off  the  bottom  of  the  trench  here  and  there 
for  the  pipe,  but  at  that  it  will  be  easier  than  digging 
the  entire  trench." 

"  All  right,  Brady,"  said  Joe  Williams ;  "  when 
will  you  start  ?  " 

"  To-morrow  morning,"  said  the  contractor.  "  I'll 
get  the  dynamite  to-day." 

"  But  isn't  dynamite  dangerous,  Mr.  Brady?  "  asked 
Bob. 

"  No,  son,  not  when  it's  taken  care  of  properly. 
You  know,  you  don't  set  your  kerosene  oil  can  on  a  hot 
stove,  neither  do  we  leave  dynamite  around  where 
it  is  likely  to  be  put  off,  but  it's  just  as  safe  as  gun- 
powder, if  you  handle  it  right.  You  ought  to  have  the 
ground  in  your  young  orchard  loosened  up  a  bit  with 
a  few  sticks.  You'll  be  surprised  to  know  how  it  will 
improve  the  production  of  your  trees." 

"Does  it  really  improve  the  land,  Mr.  Brady?" 
asked  Bob. 

"  Haven't  you  read  about  that,  Bob?  I  thought 
you  were  reading  everything  about  farming." 

"  I've  read   considerable,   Mr.    Brady,   but  never 


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TONY  133 

anything  about  dynamite,  but  the  next  time  I  go  to 
town  I'll  stop  around  at  the  First  National  and  ask 
them  if  they  have  any  literature  on  dynamite.  You 
know  they're  running  a  '  Constructive  Bank '  now  and 
distribute  literature  to  the  farmers,  and  I'm  sure  John 
iWhite  will  have  the  information." 

"  That's  right,  my  boy,  find  out  all  about  it  first, 
and  then  you'll  know  the  reason  for  using  it,  and  how 
to  apply  it.  Well,  I  must  be  going.  I'll  take  care  of 
the  job  to-morrow.  Good  day,  Mr.  Williams ;  good-by, 
son,"  he  said,  as  he  turned  and  strode  down  the  hill 
toward  the  new  drive  where  the  steam  shovel  was  mak- 
ing fast  inroads  into  the  remaining  bank. 

"  There's  one  thing  I  like  about  Brady,  Uncle 
Joe,"  said  Bob,  as  they  watched  him  disappear.  "  He 
does  things  quickly  and  he  does  them  well.  Did  you 
notice  how  straight  and  even  the  slope  of  the  two  sides 
of  the  ditch  were  made,  and  how  he  leveled  off  the  north 
bank  on  top?  " 

"  Well,  Bob,  you  know  I  always  like  a  straight  fur- 
row myself,"  replied  his  uncle,  "  and  have  always 
claimed  that  there  isn't  a  man  in  the  county  can  plow 
a  straighter  one." 

"  And  there  won't  be  a  man  in  the  county  next 
year,  Uncle  Joe,  who  can  plow  a  faster  one  than  you," 
laughed  Bob,  "  when  you  get  your  new  tractor  going." 

"  That  certainly  was  a  great  piece  of  work,"  said 
his  uncle,  looking  admiringly  at  the  ploughed  fields, 
"  but  where  can  we  get  a  man  to  look  after  the  sand 


134  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

pit,  Bob?  Why  not  let  Brady  put  on  one  of  his  men 
and  settle  it?" 

"  Don't  you  think  we  ought  to  have  a  man  of  our 
own,  Uncle  Joe,  rather  than  take  one  of  his?  No 
doubt,  Brady's  honest,  but  he's  human.  Suppose  he'd 
forget  once  in  a  while  to  give  us  some  tickets." 

"  Oh,  well,  we  wouldn't  miss  a  load  or  two  of  sand." 

"  No,"  said  Bob,  "  but  it  might  get  to  be  a  habit 
with  him,  and  you  know,  according  to  Aunt  Bettie's 
figures,  the  sand  is  going  to  help  a  lot  in  getting  our 
loan  paid  off  quickly  at  the  bank." 

"  Well,  the  next  time  I  go  to  town,  I'll  see  who  I 
can  find,"  he  replied. 

"  You  know,  Uncle  Joe,  if  we  had  a  telephone  we 
could  call  up  this  morning  and  probably  have  a  man  out 
here  by  noon.  Don't  you  think  Aunt  Bettie  was  right 
in  wanting  to  have  a  'phone?  " 

"  Oh,  that's  been  taken  care  of,"  said  his  uncle. 
"  I  told  Bettie  to  go  ahead  and  have  it  put  in.  I  thought 
it  would  be  nice  to  be  able  to  call  up  our  friends  in 
town  and  talk  to  them  on  rainy  days  and  Sundays  when 
we  didn't  want  to  drive  in.  Besides,  as  you  say,  it 
will  be  useful  at  times  to  save  trips." 

They  spent  the  morning  repairing  the  fences,  which, 
under  their  persistent  work,  were  beginning  to  look 
like  real  fences  again. 

There  was  one  thing  about  Joe  Williams — whatever 
he  did,  he  did  thoroughly,  and  the  undergrowth  was 
cut  from  both  sides,  heaped  into  piles  and  burned. 


TONY  135 

"  Do  you  know,  Uncle  Joe,  if  we  had  wire  fences, 
on  concrete  posts,  we'd  never  have  any  work  Hke  this 
to  do  each  spring.  The  plows  would  keep  the  sides 
clean.  Think  of  what  it  would  mean,  Uncle  Joe,  to 
get  rid  of  fence  rows  and  repairing  old  rail  fences. 
Then  there's  the  wasted  land  that  the  fence  takes  up; 
tliat's  a  dead  loss." 

''  Yes,  I  can  easily  see  that,"  replied  his  uncle. 
"  Bettie  was  talking  about  that  last  night." 

They  had  worked  all  morning  and  were  on  their 
way  to  the  house  to  dinner  when  they  saw  a  man  com- 
ing across  the  fields  toward  them.  He  came  from  the 
direction  of  the  farm  above,  and  as  he  approached  they 
saw  he  was  a  youthful  foreign-looking  chap — ^probably 
an  Italian  and  not  more  than  twenty  or  twenty-one 
years  old.  He  carried  a  bundle  at  the  end  of  a  stout 
stick  thrown  across  his  shoulder,  and  when  he  had 
gotten  within  speaking  distance,  he  called : 

"  Good-a  morn !  Do  you  need-a  da  mase  or-a  da 
carpendero  to  do-a  da  work  ?  " 

"Oh,  you're  one  of  the  plumber's  men?"  asked 
Bob,  thinking  perhaps  his  aunt  might  have  asked  to 
have  some  men  sent  out  to  work  on  the  new  cellar 
under  the  washroom  where  the  hot-water  heater  was 
to  go. 

"  No,  I  no-a  da  plumb.  I-a  da  mase  and-a  da 
carpendero." 

"  Oh,  you  want  a  job?  "  asked  Bob,  catching  his 
meaning. 


136  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  Yes-a,  da  job,  but  noa  work~a  da  field.  I  noa 
da  farmer — I -a  da  mase  and-a  da  carpendero." 

Bob  exchanged  glances  with  his  uncle,  who  shook 
his   head. 

"  What's  your  name?  "  he  asked,  suddenly  turning 
to  the  applicant. 

"  Tony." 

"  What  do  you  say,  Uncle  Joe,  if  we  have  Tony 
go  down  to  the  house  with  us  and  talk  the  matter  over 
with  Aunt  Bettie  ?  He  might  be  the  man  we  could  use 
at  the  sand  pit.  Besides,"  he  added  suddenly,  "  he 
might  be  the  very  fellow  to  help  build  the  dairy  house — 
if  he  understands  both  carpentry  and  mason  work,  he 
would  be  a  big  help." 

"  How  much  will  you  work  for?  "  asked  Joe  Wil- 
liams, who  hesitated  at  paying  any  money  in  wages. 

"  How  much-a  da  work  to  do?  "  asked  Tony. 

"  Oh,  we've  enough  for  a  week  or  a  month — ^maybe 
more — that's  if  you  can  do  our  work." 

"  I  understand-a  da  work,"  replied  Tony,  "  and  I 
like-a  da  live  in-a  da  country,  if  you  no-a  make-a  me 
sleep  in-a  da  bam." 

"  Where  do  you  come  from?  "  asked  Bob. 

"  From  Italia.  My  fader,  he-a  da  contracdisto  and 
I  leam-a  da  mase  and-a  da  carpendero." 

"  Well,  why  didn't  you  stay  in  Italy?  "  asked  Bob. 

"  Oh,"  he  said,  shrugging  his  shoulders,  '*  there 
no-a  da  mon  in-a  da  Italia  and  too-a  much  da  hard 
work." 


TONY  137 

So  asking  questions  and  listening  to  Tony's  answers 
the  three  reached  the  house,  where  Bob  quickly 
explained  the  matter  to  his  aunt.  She  came  out  and 
asked  Tony  to  stay  and  have  dinner  with  them.  He 
was  given  a  basin  and  towel  and  after  he  had  made  his 
toilet  his  appearance  was  decidedly  improved. 

"  He  says  he  doesn't  want  a  job,"  remarked  Joe 
Williams  to  his  wife,  when  they  were  alone  after 
dinner,  "  if  he  has  to  sleep  in  the  barn." 

"  Well,  I  don't  blame  him,"  said  Bettie.  "  What's 
the  matter  with  our  south  room?  Your  father  and 
mother  are  moving  to  town  to-morrow,  and  you  know 
we  won't  have  use  for  all  the  rooms  in  the  house. 
The  south  room  has  a  separate  stairA\^ay  leading  from 
the  small  sitting  room  on  the  first  floor.  We  could  give 
him  those  rooms  and  make  him  comfortable.  I  rather 
like  his  appearance,"  she  added.  "  Of  course,  Italians 
are  foreigners  and  they're  about  as  awkward  in  our 
country  trying  to  speak  our  language  as  we  would  be 
if  we  were  in  their  country  trying  to  speak  Italian. 
How  much  does  he  want  to  work  for  us  ?  " 

"  He  didn't  say,  but  I'll  ask  him,"  and  they 
adjourned  to  the  porch. 

"How  much  money  would  you  want,  Tony?" 
asked  Joe  Williams,  ''  to  work  for  us,  say  by  the 
month?" 

"  Where  I-a  da  sleep?  "  asked  Tony  quickly. 

"  In  that  room  up  there  on  the  second  floor,  at  the 
end  of  the  porch." 


138  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  And  where  I-a  da  eat?  "  he  asked  again. 

"  Why,  with  us,  of  course,"  said  Joe  WiUiams. 

"  Then  I  stay-a  da  mont  and  do-a  da  work,  and 
when  I  get-a  da  through,  we  make-a  da  barg.  If  you 
hke-a  my  work  and  I  Hke-a  da  place,  then  I  stay,  but 
if  you  no-a  Hke  me  and  I  no-a  Hke  you,  then  I  go." 

"  All  right,"  laughed  Joe  Williams,  "  that's  a  bar- 
gain, Tony.    Do  you  want  to  begin  work  right  away?  " 

"  Yes,  I  no  like-a  da  loaf,"  said  the  man,  shrugging 
his  shoulders. 

"  All  right,  come  around  here  and  I'll  show  you 
what  we  want  done,"  he  said  and  took  him  around 
behind  the  house,  showed  him  where  to  dig  out  and 
build  a  new  entrance  to  the  cellar  under  the  washroom 
and  put  in  a  flue  for  the  heater. 

Bob  was  much  interested  in  the  making  of  the 
trench  for  the  new  water  system,  and  while  his  uncle 
went  to  town  for  the  pipe  and  some  pipe  tools  for  lay- 
ing it.  Bob,  at  Brady's  direction,  plowed  two  deep  fur- 
rows, six  feet  apart,  outlining  the  two  edges  of  the 
trench.  He  plowed  each  furrow  a  foot  or  more  deep,  so 
as  to  outline  the  edges  of  the  trench  and  keep  the  top  as 
narrow  as  possible.  The  contractor's  foreman  and  his 
gang  quickly  drove  their  iron  bars  into  the  earth  three 
feet  six  inches  deep  and  about  three  feet  apart  and 
loaded  the  holes  as  they  went.  When  they  had  fifty 
charges  in  place,  the  foreman  connected  up  the  battery, 
and  when  the  men  were  out  of  the  way  he  raised  the 
rack  bar  of  the  battery  to  its  full  height  and  shoved  it 


TONY  139 

down  hard.  Up  came  the  earth  and  a  neat  open  trench 
four  feet  deep  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long  lay- 
open  before  them. 

By  the  time  his  uncle  had  returned,  over  half  the 
length  of  the  trench  had  been  made  and  was  ready  for 
the  pipe. 

Dynamite  certainly  is  a  quick  means  for  doing  a 
hard  job,  thought  Bob,  and  he  immediately  decided  to 
learn  more  about  its  uses. 

Bob  was  surprised  and  pleased  to  see  how  quickly 
and  easily  Tony  could  lay  out  and  execute  a  piece  of 
work.  It  was  no  time  at  all  until  the  excavation  was 
done,  the  wall  was  cut  through  for  a  door  opening  and 
the  forms  made  for  concrete  steps  to  lead  down  into 
the  new  cellar.  Fortunately,  they  found  that  the  foun- 
dation went  down  low  enough  to  give  them  the  five- 
foot  head  room  they  needed  for  the  hot-water  heater. 
The  hardest  work  was  to  connect  the  flue  opening  to 
a  flue  in  the  old  chimney,  which  they  found  had  been 
built  up  solid  with  masonry.  This  made  it  neces- 
sary to  take  the  plaster  off  back  of  the  chimney  and 
cut  a  groove.  Either  by  instinct  or  accident,  Tony 
located  a  flue,  and  before  the  end  of  the  week  they  not 
only  had  the  doorway  and  flue  completed,  4Dut  had  laid 
a  cement  floor  on  the  cellar  as  well.  Tony  showed  Bob 
how  to  mix  the  concrete  and  put  it  in  place  so  as  to 
get  a  smooth  surface,  and  explained  why  it  was  neces- 
sary, in  building  steps  and  other  concrete  work,  that 
it  should  all  be  put  in  at  one  time  and  smoothed  off 


140  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

as  soon  as  it  became  sufficiently  hard  so  it  would  not 
crack. 

The  morning  after  Tony's  arrival,  Bob's  grand- 
parents said  good-by  to  the  old  homestead  and  were 
taken  in  the  auto  to  town.  Bob's  uncle  drove  the  car, 
and,  as  it  got  under  way.  Bob  overheard  his  grand- 
mother remark : 

"  Too  many  new-fangled  notions,  Joe.  You'll 
surely  go  to  the  poorhouse  before  you're  through." 

"  All  right,  mother,"  he  laughingly  replied.  "If 
we  do,  we'll  go  on  rubber  tires  and  perhaps  over  con- 
crete, and  the  road  won't  seem  so  rough." 

Thomas  Williams  and  his  wife  had  spent  their 
entire  lives  in  the  country  and  moving  to  town  did 
not  mean  for  them  a  regular  town  house  and  lot,  they'd 
be  too  cramped  to  end  their  days  that  way.  They  had 
purchased  a  comfortable  house,  surrounded  by  a  four- 
acre  garden  and  orchard,  all  in  good  repair,  and  here, 
as  compared  with  the  farm,  the  work  would  be  light 
indeed. 

After  making  his  parents  comfortable  in  their  new 
home,  Joe  Williams  drove  out  to  meet  his  new  pur- 
chases, which  were  being  delivered  that  day.  He  met 
the  cavalcade  two  miles  out  and  accompanied  them 
home. 

"  Looks  like  a  circus  parade.  Aunt  Bettie,"  declared 
Bob,  as  they  stood  on  the  hill  back  of  the  barn  and  saw 
them  winding  up  the  lane.  First  came  the  team  of 
black  Belgian  mares,  then  the  ten  Holstein  cows,  with 


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TONY  141 

the  bull  leading  his  herd,  then  a  wagon  with  the  five 
Berkshire  sows  in  a  pen,  on  top  of  which  were  the 
incubator  and  brooder,  and  on  top  of  these  again  the 
coops  with  the  white  leghorn  and  white  rock  chickens. 
Then  came  another  wagon  with  the  bee  hives,  and  fol- 
lowing this  the  small  flock  of  Southdown  sheep,  looked 
after  by  a  fine  collie  dog,  and  last  of  all  came  Joe  Wil- 
liams in  his  new  auto,  smiling  like  the  king  he  felt 
himself  to  be. 

It  was  an  impressive  sight  to  see  this  procession  of 
fine-blooded  stock  arrive  at  the  farm,  and  the  eyes  of 
both  Bob  and  his  aunt  were  glistening  when  they 
looked  at  each  other  as  the  procession  came  up  the  new 
road  into  the  barnyard. 

"  Well,  what  do  you  think  of  them,  Bettiei'  "  called 
her  husband,  jumping  from  his  auto  and  kissing  her. 
"  Almost  like  a  circus  procession.  Hey,  Bob,  show 
them  where  you  want  your  bees.  Better  take  them 
right  over  to  the  orchard  and  set  them  up  where  you 
intend  to  keep  them  this  summer." 

"  I've  got  a  place  already  fixed  for  them,"  he 
replied.  Then  as  Tony  came  near  he  called,  "  Do  you 
understand  how  to  talk  to  Italian  bees,  Tony?  " 

"  Yes,  I  know-a  da  bees  and-a  da  bees  know-a  me — 
no-a  sting,"  said  Tony. 

"  All  right,"  said  Bob,  "  come  with  us,"  and  they 
climbed  up  on  the  wagon  and  drove  across  the  meadow 
to  the  new  apiary. 

They  placed  the  hives  on  the  cinder  foundation  Bob 


142  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

had  made  for  them  under  the  trees  and  when  they  were 
all  placed  they  looked  very  attractive  in  their  white 
paint. 

"  I'm  sorry  I  didn't  buy  them  myself,"  said  the 
driver  of  the  wagon,  who  had  been  a  farm  hand  for 
the  former  owner.  "  They're  the  greatest  honey- 
makers  I  ever  saw.  But  I  didn't  have  any  place  to 
take  them,  so  I  had  to  let  them  go.  You're  a  lucky 
boy — ^you  got  them  for  a  song,  but  do  you  know  how 
to  handle  them?  "  he  inquired.  "  You'll  have  to  look 
out  for  them  now  very  carefully,  or  you  may  lose  them. 
The  spring  is  the  time  they  require  watching  so  they 
don't  starve." 

"  I've  been  reading  up  a  lot  about  them,"  said  Bob. 
"But  what's  in  that  box?"  he  asked,  as  the  driver 
unloaded  his  last  piece — a  large  box  like  a  tool  chest. 

"  These  are  your  things  for  handling  them,  Bob — 
a  smoker,  a  veil,  some  tools  and  a  lot  of  extra  parts  and 
things.  If  you  want  me  to,  I'll  come  out  the  first  nice 
warm  day  and  help  you  look  them  over.  I'm  not 
afraid  of  them.  Call  up  my  sister  on  the  'phone,  770, 
^nd  tell  her  when  you  want  me.  My  name's  John 
^dams." 

"  Yes,  I  will,"  said  Bob,  "  and  I'll  pay  you  for  your 
time,  too,  for  while  I've  read  some,  I've  had  no  actual 
experience  with  bees." 

"Well,  to-night,  after  sundown,  take  the  blocks 
from  the  entrance  and  let  them  fly  around  in  the  morn- 
ing.    You  may  lose  a  colony  or  two  until  you  learn 


TONY  143 

how  to  handle  them,  but  you  needn't  worry;  they're 
good  breeders  and  will  soon  make  up  for  that — but  be 
sure  and  keep  the  hives  cool  in  hot  weather,  then  they 
won't  swarm  so  quickly." 

When  they  got  back  to*  the  house  all  the  new  cattle 
and  other  stock  had  been  put  away,  and  the  men  were 
ready  to  return  home.  That  night  before  setting  the 
new  chickens  at  liberty,  Bob  caught  and  killed  the  two 
remaining  Dunghill  roosters. 

It  was  a  tired  but  happy  family  that  went  to  bed 
at  ten  o'clock  that  night,  instead  of  the  regular  hour 
of  nine. 

It  seemed  to  Bob  that  he  had  just  closed  his  eyes 
when  bedlam  broke  loose.  His  first  thought  was  of  the 
new  stock,  then  of  the  dynamite,  but  as  he  sat  up  in 
bed  he  realized  it  could  not  be  either  of  them — so, 
throwing  up  his  window,  he  looked  out. 

In  the  moonlight  he  could  distinguish  many  of  their 
neighbors,  who  were  armed  with  everything  from 
sleighbells  to  horse  fiddles,  and  the  racket  they  made  in 
the  stillness  of  the  night  seemed  greater  than  any 
noise  he  had  ever  heard.  As  he  raised  his  window,  a 
shout  went  up,  the  neighloors  thinking  it  was  Bob's 
uncle,  but  seeing  their  mistake  they  redoubled  their 
efforts  and  kept  the  racket  going  for  a  half  hour  or 
more.  Then  his  aunt  and  uncle  appeared,  and  invited 
the  party  into  the  house,  where  the  lamps  were  already 
lighted. 

Congratulations  were  extended,  a  hasty  lunch  was 


144  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

set  out,  the  cider  barrel  tapped  and  a  general  good  time 
enjoyed  for  an  hour  or  more. 

Many  of  the  boys  had  been  former  pupils  of  the 
bride  and  they  were  happy  that  she  had  chosen  to  come 
and  live  among  them. 

Joe  Williams  disappeared  for  a  moment  and  when 
he  returned  he  carried  a  large  bottle  of  wine  with  a 
long  blue  ribbon  tied  to  it. 

"  Boys,"  he  said,  when  the  cheering  had  stopped, 
"  you  all  know  that  with  the  exception  of  cider,  I  never 
drink  anything." 

"  Oh,  don't  let  that  worry  you,  Joe,  we're  not  so 
modest,"  they  shouted,  but  he  only  held  up  his  hand  for 
silence. 

"  This  bottle  of  wine  was  given  to  us  by  a  very 
good  friend  for  a  certain  purpose.  We  had  intended 
to  wait  until  later  to  use  it,  but  I  don't  know  any  better 
time  than  just  now,  when  our  friends  are  all  here  to 
carry  out  our  plans,  so  come  out  into  the  yard  a 
moment,"  and  they  all  adjourned  to  the  front  yard. 

Here  Joe  Williams  and  his  bride  stepped  over  to 
a  young  apple  tree  and  handing  her  the  bottle,  he  tied 
the  ribbon  to  a  limb. 

"  Now,  boys,  Bettie  and  I've  decided  to  give  our 
farm  a  name  and  sell  our  produce  under  that  name — 
a  sort  of  a  trade-mark  or  standard  of  merit,  so  now 
while  you're  all  here,  we'll  perform  the  ceremony." 

Taking  the  bottle  firmly  in  both  hands,  the  bride 
stepped  back,  stretching  the  ribbon  tight,  then  with 


TONY  145 

a  light  shining  in  her  eyes  that  was  not  a  reflection  of 
the  moon,  she  called  in  a  clear  voice,  "  I  christen- you 
'  Brookside  Farm,' "  and  sent  the  bottle  crashing 
aeainst  the  tree  amid  the  cheers  of  the  crowd. 

When  silence  had  been  partly  restored,  a  man  was 
seen  mounting  the  steps  of  the  porch,  and  holding  a 
stout  stick  in  his  hand,  he  placed  one  end  of  the  stick 
against  his  lips  and  there  floated  out  upon  the  stillness 
of  the  night  the  old  familiar  air,  "  Home,  Sweet 
Home."  When  he  had  finished  there  were  many  shin- 
ing eyes  in  the  crowd,  but  only  Bob  recognized  in  the 
disappearing  figure  his  new  friend  Tony,  whose  natural 
artistic  nature  had  been  responsible  for  such  a  fitting 
tribute. 

When  the  boys  liad  all  gone  home,  Bob's  aunt 
called  him  to  the  kitchen. 

"  Take  this  up  to  Tony  and  thank  him  for  me  for  the 
very  fine  touch  he  added  to  our  ceremony,"  and  she 
handed  him  a  plate  heaped  high  with  cake,  alongside  of 
which  his  uncle  set  a  large  goblet  of  their  rare  old  elder- 
berry wine — a  mark  of  distinction  conferred  by  his 
uncle  only  upon  honored  guests. 


10 


XII 

THE  DAIRY  HOUSE 

While  his  uncle  planted  the  oats  Bob  and  Tony 
laid  the  water  pipe  in  the  new  trench,  the  plumbers  put 
in  the  new  fixtures  and  laid  a  sewer  to  the  new  cess  pool. 
A  couple  of  sticks  of  dynamite  prepared  the  hole  for 
the  latter,  which  was  later  walled  up  by  Tony  with 
large  loose  stone  and  covered  over  with  a  concrete  slab 
— rlater  on  when  they  built  the  new  house  they  would  put 
in  a  concrete  septic  tank,  but  for  the  present  this  cess 
pool  would  answer.  After  laying  the  water  pipe,  they 
borrowed  a  scoop  from  Brady  and  gathered  up  enough 
dirt  to  fill  the  trench. 

Tony  and  Bob  now  built  the  concrete  enclosure 
around  the  spring.  An  inch  pipe  connection  for  a 
future  water  trough  was  put  in  each  field  crossed  by 
the  trench,  and  a  valve  placed  on  the  line  well  under 
ground  to  prevent  freezing. 

By  using  a  section  of  two-inch  pipe  set  vertically 
over  the  valve,  they  could  open  and  close  the  valve  with 
a  long-stemmed  wrench. 

By  the  end  of  the  week  all  was  completed,  and  there 
was  running  water  in  the  house. 

Saturday  arrived  and  they  had  found  no  one  to 
look  after  the  pit.  They  were  discussing  the  matter  and 
wondering  whom  they  could  get,  when  Alex  Wallace 

146 


THE  DAIRY  HOUSE  147 

came  over  to  see  Bob  about  some  sand  they  needed 
to  build  a  new  wall  under  their  barn. 

"  You  don't  happen  to  know  of  any  one  we  could 
get  to  look  after  our  sand  pit,  do  you,  Alex?  "  asked 
Joe  Williams,  as  Alex  came  up. 

"  Would  it  be  heavy  work,  Joe?  "  asked  Alex. 

"  No,  it  would  be  an  easy  job — just  taking  a  ticket 
from  the  drivers  of  the  trucks  for  every  load  they 
take  away,  and  making  concrete  fence  posts  between 
times. 

"  Then  I've  the  very  man  for  you,"  replied  Alex; 
"  my  father's  brother,  Duncan  W^allace.  He's  a  Scot, 
like  my  father,  and  was  a  stone-cutter,  but  the  stone 
dust  got  into  his  lungs  and  he  came  to  the  country  to 
see  if  he  couldn't  get  better.  He  isn't  very  strong,  but 
he  could  do  any  kind  of  light  work." 

"  How"  much  would  he  w!ant  to  work  for  us, 
Alex?"  asked  Joe  Williams, 

"  I'm  sure  I  don't  know,"  he  replied.  "  I'll  bring 
him  over  this  evening  and  you  can  talk  to  him  your- 
self. I  want  to  get  a  couple  of  loads  of  sand,  Bob,"  he 
said,  addressing  the  latter.  "  How  much  will  you 
charge  me?  " 

"  Fifty  cents  a  yard,  Alex — cash  or  work,"  replied 
Bob.  "If  you'd  rather  w^ork  it  out  than  pay  the 
money,  we'd  be  glad  to  have  the  work.  You  can  do 
the  work  in  your  spare  time." 

"  What  \yould  the  work  be?  "  asked  Alex. 

"  The  first  job,"  said  Bob,  looking  inquiringly  at 


148  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

his  uncle,  "  is  digging  a  row  of  fence  post  holes  along 
the  main  road  to  fence  in  our  property.  We  want  to 
put  in  concrete  fence  posts  and  a  wire  fence  along  the 
main  road.  After  that's  up  we'll  have  lots  of  other 
fencing  to  be  done." 

"  How  much  will  you  want  an  hour  for  your  time, 
Alex?  "  asked  Joe  Williams. 

"  Well,  about  thirty  cents,"  replied  Alex. 

"  All  right,  we'll  put  you  down  for  thirty  cents 
an  hour,  you  to  work  as  many  hours  as  will  be  required 
to  pay  for  whatever  sand  and  gravel  you  get.  Of 
course,  you  can  do  the  work  whenever  you  have  the 
spare  time.  We'll  stake  out  the  post  holes  and  show 
you  the  size  we  want  them  dug.  You  must  always  let 
us  know  when  you're  going  to  work,  though,  so  we  can 
keep  account  of  your  time  and  give  your  credit." 

*'  All  right,"  said  Alex,  "when  can  I  get  the  sand?  " 

"  Monday  morning,"  said  Bob,  "  and  your  imcle 
can  keep  account  of  how  much  you  get." 

On  Monday  morning  Joe  Williams  took  the  new 
team  and  went  to  town  for  a  wagon-load  of  Portland 
cement.  The  few  bags  they  had  in  the  shed  were  all 
used  up  in  the  repairs  around  the  spring  and  cellar.  As 
it  had  been  decided  at  the  conference  with  John  White, 
the  banker,  on  Saturday,  to  build  a  new  concrete  dairy 
house  and  ice  house,  equipped  with  running  water,  it 
was  necessary  to  lay  in  a  new  supply  of  cement. 

Bob  looked  up  the  cement  bulletins  on  the  handling 
of  concrete,  and  found  that  cement  should  be  put  in  a 


THE  DAIRY  HOUSE  149 

shed  piled  on  planks  raised  above  the  floor,  and  that  the 
shed  should  have  a  tight  roof.  The  only  building  that 
would  answer  these  conditions  was  the  wagon  shed, 
and  after  considering  the  matter,  he  decided  that  by 
moving  the  wagons  around  a  bit  he  could  get  a  space 
at  one  end  near  the  door  that  could  be  used  for  this 
purpose. 

He  got  some  old  timbers  eight  inches  thick,  and  six 
feet  long,  and  laid  them  on  the  ground  four  feet  apart, 
and  on  top  of  these  he  put  some  two  by  ten  plank,  and 
by  the  time  his  uncle  returned  with  the  first  load  he 
had  a  platform  ready  to  receive  the  cement. 

"  It's  very  important,  Uncle  Joe,  to  keep  the  cement 
dry  and  up  from?  the  ground  so  it  won't  set  before  we 
use  it,  for  the  first  bag  in,  you  know,  will  be  the  last 
bag  out,  and  cement  costs  too  much  to  lose  any  of  it." 

As  soon  as  dinner  was  over,  Joe  Williams  went 
back  to  town  for  another  load,  hauling  it  up  the  new 
road,  same  as  the  first  load. 

"  I  tell  you,  Bob,  it's  a  lot  easier  to  bring  a  load  up 
the  new  road  than  it  was  up  the  old  one.  If  the  main 
road  wasn't  so  rough,  I  could  haul  even  more.  I  can 
see  that  John  White's  argument  for  concrete  roads  is  a 
good  one.  I'm  going  to  talk  it  up  to  the  farmers 
around  here  and  see  if  we  can't  get  them  together  and 
build  the  new  road  this  summer.  I  was  talking  to  one 
of  the  County  Commissioners  to-day  and  he  says  they 
are  in  favor  of  it,  but  they  want  the  owners  of  the 
adjoining  farms  to  ask  to  have  the  road  built.     The 


150  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

Commissioners  are  politicians,  you  know,  and  don't 
want  to  do  anything  that  will  lose  them  votes.  It's 
going  to  take  three  days  to  haul  out  the  cement  we 
require  for  the  new  dairy  house  with  such  rough  roads. 
By  the  way,  Bob,"  his  uncle  continued,  "  John  White 
wants  you  to  come  to  town  with  me  to-morrow  and 
show  him  the  kind  of  a  dairy  house  we're  planning  to 
build.  He  says  he's  anxious  that  it  shall  be  a  model 
that  can  be  copied  by  other  farmers.  I  told  him  you 
didn't  have  much  of  a  drawing,  but  he  said  that  he 
was  sure  if  you  took  in  the  sketches  you  have,  you 
would  be  able  to  explain  the  construction  to  him  so  he 
could  understand  it." 

The  next  day  as  they  drove  along  they  talked  of 
the  improvement  on  the  farm  and  the  profit  they  cmght 
to  be  able  to  earn  with  the  new  equipment.  Bob  was 
the  optimist  and  his  uncle  the  pessimist  in  these  dis- 
cussions, but  optimistic  Bob  was  not  without  his  pencil 
and  memorandum  book  and  usually  had  the  better  of 
the  argument  because  of  his  uncle's  disinclination  to 
take  the  time  to  figure  out  the  advantages  and  dis- 
advantages of  the  schemes. 

As  soon  as  they  arrived  in  town,  Bob  went  around 
to  the  First  National  Bank  to  see  the  president,  while 
his  imcle  stopped  at  the  supply  yard  for  another  load 
of  cement. 

"  Hello,  Bob,"  greeted  the  banker,  as  he  entered. 
"  I  hear  you've  put  on  some  help  at  the  farm  to  build 
some  of  those  modern  buildings  you've  been  telling  me 


THE  DAIRY  HOUSE  151 

about.     Thought  I'd  Hke  to  know  what  you're  doing. 
Got  your  plans  with  you?  " 

''  They  aren't  very  much  of  plans,  Mr.  White," 
explained  Bob.  "  I'm  not  much  of  an  architect,  but 
mavbe  you  can  understand  them.'' 

"  Bring  them  into  the  directors'  room,  Bob,  where 
we  can  look  them  over  without  interruption,"  he  said, 
and  Bob  for  the  third  time  was  privileged  to  occupy 
this  room. 

"  The  first  thing  I  want  to  know,"  said  the  banker. 
"  is  how  you  found  the  size  dairy  house  you  needed. 
Did  you  figure  it  out.  Bob,  or  just  look  up  some  cata- 
logs and  pick  one  out  that  pleased  you?  " 

"  No,  Mr.  White,"  replied  Bob,  "  Aunt  Bettie  and 
I  decided  first  on  the  size  of  the  dairy  herd.  We 
thought  that  twenty  cows  would  be  as  many  as  we 
would  be  able  to  take  care  of  on  a  farm  of  the  size  of 
ours,  if' we  do  general  farming.  We  have  used  a 
twenty-cow  herd  as  the  basis  of  our  calculations.  We 
found  by  reading  the  recommendations  in  the  Gov- 
ernment's bulletins,  that  in  order  to  keep  a  dairy  of 
good  milk  cows,  it  would  be  necessary  to  take  care 
of  five  calves  and  five  yearling  heifers,  and  an  old  and 
a  young  bull  in  order  to  keep  the  herd  up  to  maximum 
production.  We  figure  that  a  herd  of  twenty  Holstein, 
cows  ought  to  average  two  hundred  quarts  of  milk 
daily.  This  would  mean  ten  twenty-quart  cans  to  take 
care  of  the  milk,  and,  allowing  for  the  ice,  would 
require  a  trough  nine  feet  by  two  feet  six  inches  by 


152  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

two  feet.  If  we  separate  the  cream,  of  course,  it 
wouldn't  require  such  a  large  trough.  But  we  used 
this  as  a  basis  of  the  dairy  requirements.  Then  we 
found  by  looking  up  another  Government  bulletin  that 
it  would  take  about  twenty  tons  of  ice  to  take  care  of 
this  milk,  but  we  need  ice  around  the  farm  for  other 
things,  too,  so  we  decided  to  make  the  icehouse  large 
enough  for  thirty  tons.  Aunt  Bettie  and  I  read  all 
the  bulletins  we  could  get  from  the  Government  and 
then  we  looked  up  the  different  ones  sent  out  by  the 
Portland  cement  manufacturers,  but  we  found  they 
didn't  exactly  agree;  besides,  we  felt  that  if  we  could 
build  the  icehouse  inside  of  the  dairy,  the  ice  wouldn't 
melt  so  fast,  so  we've  decided  tO'  make  a  combination 
building  like  this,"  he  said,  as  he  laid  his  plans  before 
the  banker.  "  We're  going  to  put  this  building  back  of 
the  woodshed  where  it  will  join  the  new  cow  barn." 

"  But  isn't  a  twenty-cow  herd  pretty  large  for  one 
man  to  handle,  Bob?  "  asked  the  banker, 

"  No,  Mr.  White,  you  can  get  a  two-unit  milking 
machine  now  that  will  milk  twenty  to  twenty-five  cows 
in  one  hour  and  give  a  ninety-eight  per  cent 
efficiency." 

"  How  much  will  that  cost.  Bob?  " 

"  We  can  get  a  complete  two-imit  outfit  consisting 
of  pump,  air  tanks,  two  milking  units,  installed  in  the 
barn,  complete  for  $450." 

"  But  you've  only  ten  cows,  now,  Bob.  Wouldn't 
that  be  too  large  for  them?" 


THE    ELECTRIC    MILKER    SOON    PAYS    FOR    ITSELF 


COMFORTABLE    SANITARY    STALLS    OK    CONCRETE    WITH    WOOD    liLOCK 
PAVING    ON    FLOOR.       RlNNINCi    WATER    AND    PLENTY    OF    SUN- 
SHINE   ASSURE    A    HEALTHY    AND    CONTENTED       HERD 


THE  DAIRY  HOUSE  153 

"  No,  Mr.  White,  the  outfit  is  designed  for  from 
ten  to  twenty-five  cows,  and  will  do  the  milking  twice 
as  fast  as  by  hand." 

"  That's  right,  Bob ;  put  in  machinery  and  cut 
down  help.  Let's  see,  that  would  save  at  least  twO' hours 
a  day  for  one  man  at,  say  thirty  cents  an  hour,  or  $219 
per  year.  You  say  the  complete  outfit  costs  $450,  which 
amount  at  six  per  cent,  interest  would  mean  %2y,  or  a 
saving  of  $192.    Quite  a  saving,  Bob." 

"  Have  you  laid  out  a  general  scheme  for  all  your 
buildings?  "  asked  the  banker,  much  interested. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Bob.  "  Aunt  Bettie  and  I  have 
figured  out  the  size  and  location  of  all  the  new  build- 
ings we'll  need  for  the  farm.  Here  they  are  on  this 
drawing,"  and  he  produced  his  general  layout.  "  Of 
course,  you  know,  Mr.  White,  we  won't  get  them  all 
at  once,  but  we  want  to  build  each  one  as  we  go,  so 
that  it  will  be  part  of  a  definite  scheme.  Aunt  Bettie 
says  we  mustn't  make  any  mistakes  in  the  placing  of 
our  buildings." 

"  What  does  your  Uncle  Joe  say  about  all  these 
plans?"  asked  the  banker. 

"  Well,  Uncle  Joe  isn't  very  much  interested  just 
now,  Mr.  White.  He  thinks  we're  planning  to  spend 
too  much  money,  but  Aunt  Bettie  says  it  isn't  so  much 
the  amount  of  money  we  spend,  as  the  way  in  which 
it  is  spent  that  requires  the  planning." 

"  That's  right,"  said  the  banker.  ''  Do  your  thinking 
first  and  your  building  afterward,  and  then  you  won't 


154  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

have  a  lot  of  mistakes  to  work  with  all  your  life.  I 
like  the  way  you've  laid  these  buildings  out,  Bob.  You 
must  have  read  a  lot  to  get  this  idea.  Where  did  you 
say  the  new  hen  house  is  to  go  ?  " 

"  Over  here  behind  the  cow  barn.  You  see,  Mr. 
White,  our  present  buildings  are  all  built  facing  the 
wrong  way.  We  don't  get  the  right  exposure.  Besides, 
Aunt  Bettie  and  I  think  that  the  new  house  should 
set  out  where  the  old  barn  is  at  the  present  and  the 
new  barn  should  be  out  in  the  orchard  back  of  the 
smokehouse.  The  trees  in  this  orchard  are  old  any- 
way, and  it  is  about  time  they  were  cut  down.  That 
would  make  a  good  layout  for  all  the  buildings  and 
have  them  conveniently  connected.  You  see  the  new 
driveway  comes  up  in  the  yard  between  the  house 
and  the  barn,  where  it  ought  to  be.  That  will 
make  the  general  entrance  to  the  house  toward  the 
barn  and  a  garden  entrance  toward  the  main  road." 

"  That's  right,  Bob;  I'm  glad  tO'  hear  you  talk  about 
gardens.  I  think  the  finest  thing  on  a  farm,  outside 
of  making  a  profit,"  he  added  smiling,  "  are  flowers." 

"  Well,  the  flowers  are  Aunt  Bettie's  idea,"  said 
Bob.  "  She  says  they've  many  nice  gardens  in  New 
England,  and  that  she  wants  to  have  one  out  here,  and, 
of  course,  you  know  that'd  be  the  southwest  exposure, 
and  just  the  place  for  a  flower  garden." 

"What's  this  dotted  line  for,  Bob?"  asked  the 
banker,  pointing  with  his  lead  pencil. 

"  Oh,  that's  the  water  supply  pipe  from  the  spring 


THE  DAIRY  HOUSE  155 

on  *  Old  Round  Top',''  said  Bob.  "  You  see,  we're 
planning  to  carry  the  water  into  all  the  buildings,  so 
it  won't  be  necessary  to  take  the  stock  out  to  water  in 
the  winter.  Of  course,  when  we  build  the  cow  barn, 
we'll  put  in  individual  water  bowls  for  each  cow.  Aunt 
Bettie  and  I  are  reading  up  on  dairy  barns  now  and 
when  we  come  to  build  that  we  don't  want  any  mis- 
takes. We  want  it  just  as  good  and  practical  as  it  can 
be  made,  yet  not  too  expensive." 

"  After  you  get  the  dairy  house  up,  Bob,  what's 
the  next  building  you're  going  to  build  ?  " 

"  We  want  to  build  the  hen  house  next,  Mr.  White," 
said  Bob,  "  but  it's  a  good  deal  of  work  for  just  Tony 
and  I,  working  by  ourselves,  even  though  we  do  get 
up  early  in  the  morning.  Besides,  it'll  soon  be  plant- 
ing time  and  Uncle  Joe  will  need  me  in  the  corn  field." 

"  I  was  thinking  of  that,  Bob,"  said  the  banker 
thoughtfully,  tapping  the  table  with  the  end  of  his 
pencil.  "  I  wonder  why  it  wouldn't  pay  your  Uncle 
Joe  to  put  on  a  man  to  help  him  and  let  you  look  after 
the  buildings." 

"  Oh,  but  he  couldn't  afford  that.  Besides,  I  like 
to  work  at  planting,  too,"  replied  Bob  hastily. 

"  Yes,  that's  so,"  said  the  banker,  '*  but  I  think  I 
told  you,  Bob,  I  want  to  see  your  Uncle  Joe's  farm  a 
model  one,  and  I  don't  want  him  to  spend  three  or  four 
years  in  fixing  it  up.  Of  course,  the  other  farmers 
won't  do  theirs  quite  so  quickly ;  they  don't  have  sand 
pits  on  their  farms,  but  there's  so  much  to  do  to  get 


156  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

these  old  farms  on  a  paying  basis  that  I  want  to  see 
your  uncle's  farm  finished  up  completely  by  the  end  of 
this  year." 

"  But  I'm  sure  Uncle  Joe  couldn't  afford  to  go 
ahead  with  all  the  buildings,  Mr.  White,"  replied  Bob 
in  alarm,  "  and  while  Aunt  Bettie  and  I  would  like 
to  see  them  put  up  and  have  all  the  improvements 
made  without  waiting  so  long,  it  would  cost  a  lot  of 
money." 

"  Have  you  any  idea,  Bob,  what  these  buildings  will 
cost  ?  "  asked  the  banker'  a  moment  later. 

"  Not  exactly,  Mr.  White,  although  we've  made 
up  some  figures,  using  the  prices  given  in  the  bulletins, 
and  trying  to  figure  out  the  cost  of  the  concrete  work 
ourselves.  We  think  that  the  dairy  house  will  cost 
$450;  the  hen  house  $1000;  the  cow  barn  $1500,  and 
the  main  bam  $2000.  Then  there's  the  new  piggery 
and  the  concrete  feeding  floor  that  goes  with  it.  The 
bam,  of  course,  will  have  one  or  two  silos — we  haven't 
decided  yet  which  will  be  best — ^and  we  want  to  put 
in  a  manure  pit  with  a  carrier  system.  And  I  want  to 
make  some  concrete  shelters  for  my  bee  hives.  Then, 
of  course,  we'll  need  some  equipment,  such  as  a  corn 
harvester  and  machine  for  filling  the  silos — these  will 
cost  about  $5CK).  We  ought  to  have  a  new  machinery 
shed  to  keep  all  the  farming  implements  in,  and  I've 
been  telling  Uncle  Joe  we  also  need  a  shop  with  a  forge 
for  blacksmith  work  and  some  iron-working  tools  for 
making  repairs  to  the  farming  implements,  also  a  small 


THE  DAIRY  HOUSE  157 

carpenter  shop.  I  want  Tony  to  make  some  new  bee 
hives  for  me  during  the  winter.  Say,  you  ought  to 
hear  Tony  play,  Mr,  White,"  said  Bob  suddenly. 

"  Why,  what  does  he  play?  "  asked  the  banker. 

"  A  flute,"  said  Bob.  "  You  just  ought  to  hear 
him.    He  plays  the  nicest  music  I  ever  heard." 

"Does  he  sing,  too?"  inquired  the  banker, 
interested. 

"  Yes,  but  it's  in  Italian  and  I  don't  understand 
what  it's  all  about,  except  it's  mostly  about  a  bull 
fighter — he  calls  him  a  Toreador.  You  ought  to  hear 
him  when  we're  out  back  of  the  barn  some  morning. 
He  not  only  sings,  but  he  acts  it,  too.  He  sticks  the 
pitchfork  into  the  straw  stack,  like  as  if  it's  a  bull,  and 
makes  you  believe  he's  killing  it  with  a  sword." 

"  That's  from  the  opera  Carmen,"  laughed  the 
banker,  at  Bob's  description  of  the  Toreador  Song. 
"  Well,  I  guess  he  must  be'  a  man  of  some  education 
if  he  can  sing  that.  You  better  keep  him  around  the 
place.  Bob,  if  you  can.  But,  coming  back  to  the  ques- 
tion of  buildings,  I  think  I'll  speak  to  your  Uncle  Joe 
and  see  if  we  can't  manage  some  way  or  other  to  let 
you  work  on  the  buildings  so  you  can  get  them  pushed 
along.  As  I  told  you,  I  want  to  see  all  your  buildings 
up  within  a  year." 

"  Oh,  you  don't  mean  it,  Mr.  White.  You  don't 
mean  the  new  barns  and  all." 

"  Yes,  everything,  Bob,"  he  replied. 
"  That  would   cost  a  lot  of  money,"   said   Bob, 
frightened  at  the  idea  of  spending  so  much. 


I 


158  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  You  seem  to  forget,  Bob,  that  I  told  you  the  First 
National  Bank  was  back  of  your  Uncle  Joe,  and  as 
long  as  we  don't  worry,  he  shouldn't.  Besides,  if  your 
Uncle  Joe  doesn't  make  good,  I'll  charge  it  off  to  profit 
and  loss  against  my  '  Constructive  Banking '  scheme ; 
but  I'm  not  going  to  worry  about  that  feature.  Bob — I 
know  your  Uncle  Joe  is  going  to  succeed.  You  go 
ahead  with  your  dairy  house  and  I'll  drive  out  in  a 
few  days  to  see  how  you're  coming  along.  Give  my 
regards  to  your  Aunt  Bettie,"  he  added,  as  he  waved 
good-by  to  the  departing  boy. 


XIII 

VISITORS 

The  building  of  the  dairy  was  the  most  interesting 
thing  Bob  had  ever  undertaken,  and  they  had  not  pro- 
ceeded very  far  until  he  began  to  realize  what  a  valu- 
able helper  he  had  in  Tony.  Many  times  when  he  was 
at  a  loss  to  know  how  to  proceed,  Tony  was  ready 
with  suggestions  and  seemed  to  know  just  what  to  do. 

They  made  a  careful  list  of  all  the  material  they 
needed,  and  a  rough  sketch  of  the  doors  and  windows 
with  all  sizes  marked  on  them ;  also  the  other  equip- 
ment they  would  require.  These  Bob's  uncle  bought  in 
town  at  a  planing  mill  and  hardware  store.  The  most 
important  of  all  was  a  seven  cubic  foot  self-charging 
gasoline-driven  concrete  mixer  of  a  type  that  Bob  and 
Tony  had  decided  would  be  the  best  for  their  use.  The 
machine  selected  was  not  the  cheapest  one  they  could 
have  bought,  but  it  was  the  one  that  required  the  least 
amount  of  labor  to  operate  and  was  a  substantial,  well- 
built  machine,  guaranteed  for  one  year. 

"  Father  says  it  always  pays  to  buy  a  good  tool,  even 
if  it  costs  a  little  more,"  Bob  had  advised  his  uncle 
when  the  latter  questioned  his  selection,  but  his  uncle 
had  finally  given  in  and  the  mixer  had  been  purchased. 

Bob  was  sure  his  uncle  had  had  a  plain  talk  with 
John  White,  (he  banker,  for  now,  instead  of  objecting 

159 


160  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

each  time  materials  and  tools  were  bought,   he  had 
readily  consented. 

"  I  want  you  to  keep  an  account  of  all  the  material, 
time  and  money  you  spend,  Bob,  so  when  we're  through 
we'll  know  exactly  what  each  building  costs,"  his  uncle 
admonished.  "  I'm  going  to  give  all  the  bills  for 
materials  to  you  so  you  can  check  them  up  and  see 
if  we  receive  everything  we  order;  then  you  can  make 
a  record  of  what  it  costs.  John  White  said  that  when 
we're  through  he  wants  a  detailed  cost  of  the  work,  toi 
know  exactly  what  each  building  has  cost  us,  and  I 
think  it's  a  good  idea  myself." 

At  the  end  of  three  weeks  the  dairy  house  was 
fully  completed,  including  the  painting,  which  Bob 
and  Tony  also  did.  Every  day  or  two  John  White 
had  driven  out  to  the  farm  in  the  late  afternoon  to  see 
how  the  work  was  progressing.  A  stranger  might  have 
thought  that  the  building  was  being  erected  for  him 
from  the  interest  he  took  in  everything  that  was  done. 

"  I  want  to  get  posted  on  farm  building  construc- 
tion. Bob,"  he  remarked,  one  day  when  the  building 
was  nearly  completed.  "You  see,  I'm  going  to  preach 
the  gospel  of  modern  buildings  among  our  farmers 
and  loan  them  money  for  their  improvements,  and  I 
want  to  see  how  the  thing  is  done.  I  want  them  to  get 
rid  of  the  continual  cost  of  up-keep,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  loss  of  time  spent  in  repairing  old  buildings,  time 
they  could  use  to  earn  good  American  dollars.  How 
soon  are  you  going  to  start  the  hen  house  you  were 
talking  about?  " 


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VISITORS  161 

"  We  could  start  it  this  week,"  said  Bob,  "  but 
Uncle  Joe  is  talking  about  planting  the  com." 

"  Don't  you  bother  your  head  about  that.  Bob ; 
your  Uncle  Joe  and  I've  had  a  talk  and  have  worked 
that  out  all  right.  If  the  sand  pit  holds  out,  your 
Uncle  Joe  pays  the  expenses,  and  if  it  doesn't  hold  out, 
I  guess  I'll  be  stuck,"  he  laughed.  "  I  want  to  see  you 
devote  all  your  time  to  getting  these  buildings  up. 
Next  year  you  can  spend  all  the  time  you  want  rais- 
ing crops." 

"  But  won't  that  make  a  lot  of  work  for  Aunt 
Bettie?"  said  Bob,  considering  the  matter.  "She's 
pretty  busy  now,  Mr.  White." 

"  I  was  thinking  of  that,  too.  It  isn't  fair  that  your 
uncle  should  have  all  the  help  on  his  end.  I  only  wish 
we  knew  where  we  could  get  a  good  woman  to  help 
her." 

Tony,  who  was  standing  near,  was  listening 
closely  to  what  was  being  said : 

"  Mr.  Bob,  I  have-a  no  told  you  that  I  got-a  da  wife 
who  live  in-a  da  city,  and  I  know  she  like-a  da  come 
and  work  for-a  your  Aunt  Bettie.  We  got-a  no-a  da 
kids,  and  she  like-a  da  country,  like-a  da  me." 

"  That's  a  fine  idea,"  said  the  banker,  turning 
around  quickly.    "  W'Tiere  is  she  now,  Tony?  " 

"  She  in  Pittsburgh,  wid  her  brud." 

"  Send  for  her  right  away,  Tony,"  said  the  banker. 

"  All  right,  Mr.  White,  but  I  have  no-a  da  mon." 

"  Oh,  that's  so,  Tony.     Well,  we'll  take  care  of 
that." 
11 


162  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

The  banker  left  and  returned  a  few  minutes  later 
and  handed  Tony  $25. 

"  This  is  on  account  of  your  work,  Tony." 

"  All  right,  I  send-a  da  letter  to-night,"  and  Bob 
thought  he  saw  a  happy  look  in  Tony's  eyes  as  he 
thrust  the  money  into  his  pocket  and  started  to  work 
again. 

"  Bob,"  said  his  aunt  one  morning,  a  few  minutes 
after  he  had  brought  the  mail  up  from  the  R.  F.  D. 
box  on  the  main  road,  "  I've  some  good  news  for  you. 
We're  going  tO'  have  company;  my  two  nieces  who  live 
in  New  England  are  coming  tO'  see  us.  One  is  Edith 
Atwood,  my  brother's  daughter,  who  lives  in  Worces- 
ter, Massachusetts,  and  the  other  is  Ruth  Thomas,  my 
sister's  daughter,  who  lives  near  Wallingford,  Con- 
necticut. Ruth  is  eighteen  and  Edith  will  be  eighteen  in 
September.  They  finished  high  school  last  year  and 
are  both  anxious  to  see  our  farm." 

"  When  will  they  get  here?  "  asked  Bob,  not  pleased 
at  the  news  and  wondering  what  the  coming  of  two 
girls  might  do  to  upset  their  plans  for  the  improvement 
of  the  farm. 

"  They  were  not  supposed  to  come  before  June," 
replied  his  aunt,  seeing  that  Bob  was  not  pleased,  "  but 
Ruth  was  so  anxious  to  get  into  the  country  while 
we  were  planting  that  she  persuaded  Edith  to  come 
now.    They'll  be  here  on  Saturday." 

"  That'll  be  day  after  to-morrow,"  exclaimed  Bob, 
"  the  day  I  was  planning  to  start  work  on  the  newi 
hen  house." 


VISITORS  163 

"  Well,  you  needn't  stop  on  their  account,  Bob," 
replied  his  aunt.  "  111  drive  in  and  get  them.  I  know 
how  anxious  you  are  to  get  the  hen  house  started, 
now  that  you  have  Tony  to  help  you." 

All  day  Bob  kept  turning  over  in  his  mind  the 
invasion  of  his  domain  by  two  girls.  Now,  why 
couldn't  the  visitors  have  been  boys  instead  of  girls, 
then  he  could  have  enlisted  their  ser\nces  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  new  buildings.  What  could  he  not 
do  with  two  willing  boys  to  help  him?  Why  must 
these  visitors  be  girls  instead  of  boys,  he  thought.  They 
would  probably  sit  around  the  house  all  day,  reading 
magazines,  or  want  him  to  leave  his  work  to  drive  them 
about  in  the  car.  He  felt  sure  the  best  part  of  the  day, 
the  evening  hour  they  all  spent  together  in  the  sitting 
room,  discussing  their  plans,  would  now  be  spoiled. 

The  next  day  he  took  the  tractor  with  two  trailing 
wagons  and  began  hauling  sand  and  gravel  from  the 
pit  to  the  site  of  the  hen  house.  The  operator  of  the 
steam  shovel  loaded  the  wagons  for  him  and  this  saved 
much  time  for  two  shovelfuls  made  a  load.  By  noon 
they  had  brought  up  twenty  loads,  enough  to  make  a 
start  on  the  foundations.  He  again  appreciated  the 
convenience  of  having  the  water  piped  to  this  building, 
the  same  as  to  the  dairy  house,  for  a  short  hose  gave 
them  all  the  water  they  needed,  when  and  where  they 
needed  it,  and  with  the  cement  stored  in  the  wagon  shed 
near  by  they  had  all  the  materials  they  required  to 
begin  work.     Bob  took  his  tape  line  and  with  Tony 


164  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

holding  the  ring  against  the  fence  that  divided  the 
south  field  from  the  barnyard,  measured  off  fifty  feet 
and  drove  a  peg.  Then  going  eighty  rods  along  the 
fence,  measured  out  fifty  feet  again  and  drove  another 
peg.  He  was  careful  to  keep  the  tape  line  as  nearly 
square  with  the  fence  as  possible.  They  now  stretched 
a  line  between  the  two  pegs  and  coming  within  a  few 
feet  from  the  first  one,  set  up  a  batter  board  three 
feet  long,  and  at  right  angles  to  the  line — the  same 
as  they  had  done  with  the  dairy  house  foundations. 
Then  they  measured  off  two  hundred  and  fifty-two  feet 
along  the  line  and  set  up  another  batter  board  in  the 
same  manner.  This  done,  they  put  in  two  other 
batter  boards  at  right  angles  with  the  first,  but  eighteen 
inches  back  of  the  line.  They  drove  two  nails  in 
these  boards,  exactly  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  apart. 
They  then  placed  another  line  parallel  to  and  twenty 
feet  away  from  the  first  one  with  similar  batter  boards, 
and  located  the  other  end  of  the  cross  lines  on  the 
boards.  With  a  ten- foot  pole  and  using  the  six,  eight 
and  ten  method,  they  squared  the  lines,  and  located 
the  ends  of  the  buildings. 

Bob  then  marked  under  the  line  with  heavy  black 
pencil  the  letters  "  B.  L." — meaning  building  line. 
This  done  they  drove  other  nails  in  each  batter  board 
six  inches  outside  of  the  building  line  to  locate  the  out- 
side of  the  footing,  and  removed  the  lines  to  these  nails. 
From  these  new  lines  they  measured  back  twenty  inches 


VISITORS  165 

and  drove  other  nails,  locating  the  inner  edge  of  the 
footings. 

Bob  placed  a  large  black  letter  "  F  "  under  each  nail 
to  designate  the  edge  of  footings.  They  now  took  their 
picks  and  dug  a  small  score  in  the  ground  directly  under 
all  the  lines,  thus  marking  out  correctly  on  the  ground 
the  outer  and  inner  edge  of  the  footings.  As  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  ground  at  the  northwest  corner  was  the 
highest,  they  set  a  grade  stake  with  the  top  six  inches 
above  the  ground  at  that  point  and  from  this  stake  set 
other  stakes  at  ten-foot  intervals  in  the  center  of  the 
footings  all  around  the  building,  using  the  twelve-foot 
level  board  and  mason's  level  to  establish  the  correct 
elevation. 

They  took  down  their  lines,  wound  them  up 
carefully  and  laid  them  aside  for  further  use.  Bob 
decided,  in  order  to  keep  the  frost  from  getting  under 
the  walls,  they'd  have  to  place  the  footings  three  feet 
below  the  finished  grade.  In  order  to  throw  the  water 
away  from  the  buildings,  it  would  also  be  necessary  to 
make  a  fall  of  six  inches  on  the  high  corner.  This 
would  make  the  trench  for  the  footings  two  feet,  six 
inches  deep  at  that  point,  and  as  there  was  a  drop  of 
eight  inches  to  the  southeast  corner,  the  trench  there 
would  be  one  foot,  ten  inches  deep.  Between  the  grade 
stakes  they  now  dug  out  a  section  the  full  width  of  the 
footings  and  about  three  feet  long,  and  located  the 
exact  bottom  of  the  trench  by  measuring  down  three 
feet  from  the  under  side  of  the  level  board  as  it  rested 
on  two  of  the  grade  stakes. 


166  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

They  threw  the  excavated  earth  inside  of  the  build- 
ing to  bring  the  floor  up  to  grade,  and  when  the  depth 
holes  were  completed  they  dug  out  the  sections  between 
them,  leveling  the  intervening  space  by  their  eyes. 

Bob  was  so  interested  in  the  new  building  that  he 
and  Tony  went  back  and  worked  until  dark,  so  as  to 
have  the  excavation  ready  for  footings  in  the  morning. 

"  I'm  going  to  scold  you  for  breaking  the  Union 
rules,  Bob,"  laughed  his  aunt,  when  he  came  into  the 
sitting  room  a  few  minutes  after  eight  o'clock.  "  You 
know  we  decided  not  to  work  after  six  o'clock." 

"  Yes,  I  know  we  did,  Aunt  Bettie,"  said  Bob,  "  but 
I  was  so  anxious  to  get  the  excavation  done,  ready  for 
concreting  to-morrow." 

"  Well,  I  suppose  if  I  could  command  the  sun  to 
stand  still,  like  Joshua  of  old,  you  wouldn't  be  willing 
to  stop  until  the  whole  job  was  done,"  she  laughed. 
**  How  long  do  you  think  we  could  remain  happy  here 
if  we  all  began  working  from  daylight  until  dark? 
Life  would  soon  become  a  burden,  and  you'd  be  the 
first  ore  to  leave  for  the  city.  Bob.  Besides,  if  we 
keep  long  working  hours,  we'll  miss  our  pleasant  eve- 
nings together,  and  I'm  not  willing  to  give  them  up," 
she  smiled  at  him  across  the  table. 

"  I  guess  you're  right.  Aunt  Bettie,"  he  replied,  as 
he  sat  down  in  a  chair,  too  tired  to  read.  "  I  won't 
do  it  again." 

The  next  morning  Bob  had  his  chores  and  milking 


VISITORS  167 

done  by  six  o'clock  and  by  six-thirty  he  was  out  at  the 
new  hen  house,  where  he  was  joined  by  Tony. 

"  Good-a  morn,  Mr.  Bob,"  smiled  Tony.  "  This-a 
the  day  we  make-a  da  concrete  fast." 

"  That's  what  we  will,"  replied  Bob.  "  Get  some 
cement,  Tony,  and  we'll  start  the  mixer  going  right 
away." 

While  Tony  was  getting  the  cement,  Bob  filled  his 
six  cubic  foot  measure  with  sand  and  gravel,  and  on 
top  of  these  he  placed  one  bag  of  cement,  then  he  started 
the  engine  and  the  elevator  emptied  the  load  into  the 
drum,  which,  as  soon  as  he  added  the  water,  he  set 
revolving.  When  the  concrete  was  thoroughly  mixed, 
he  threw  the  dumping  lever  over  and  filled  the  wheel- 
barrow that  Tony  placed  under  the  discharging  end  of 
the  drum. 

By  the  time  Tony  had  dumped  the  three  barrows  of 
concrete  into  the  trench.  Bob  had  another  batch  ready 
for  the  machine,  and  while  this  was  being  mixed 
Tony  leveled  off  the  concrete  in  the  trench  even  with 
the  grade  stakes,  set  in  the  trench  six  inches  above  the 
bottom. 

By  night  the  footings  were  completed.  They  now 
located  and  dug  the  footings  for  the  piers  of  the  cross 
partitions  and  concreted  them,  so  as  to  give  the  cement 
of  the  main  footings  a  chance  to  set  up  before  they 
began  putting  the  forms  on  top  of  them.  They  could 
have  saved  the  forms  below  grade  by  making  the  exca- 
vation the  exact  width  of  the  foundation  wall,  but  they 


168  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

felt  this  was  j)oor  economy,  for  the  work  was  uncer- 
tain and  rough,  and  the  extra  labor  caused  by  trying  to 
fit  the  forms  to  the  sloping  ground  would  more  than 
offset  the  little  saving;  besides,  it  took  more  cement  to 
fill  in  irregular  trenches  than  it  did  ones  of  exact  size. 

They  had  taken  the  forms  they  used  for  the  dairy 
house  foundation,  together  with  some  new  sections, 
and  set  them  up  on  the  new  footing,  using  wooden 
spreaders  for  holding  them  the  right  distance  apart 
and  placing  heavy  wires  through  the  hole  in  the  forms, 
the  ends  of  which  encircled  a  pin  and  were  twisted  up 
tight  securing  the  forms  firmly  together. 

The  three-foot  form  sections  brought  the  top  of 
the  forms  just  under  the  line,  which  was  now  stretched 
between  the  nails  marked  "  B.  L."  and  the  outside  of 
the  wall  was  correctly  located.  They  drove  pegs  into 
the  ground  on  both  sides  and  braced  the  top  of  the 
forms  to  hold  them  to  the  exact  line.  They  had  only 
twenty  sections,  each  ten  feet  long,  enough  for  one 
end  and  four  sections  down  each  side,  so  Bob  decided 
to  put  in  the  forms  at  the  north  end  and  concrete  them, 
and  then  remove  them  to  the  south  end.  When  the  con- 
crete there  was  sufficiently  hard  they  could  set  up  the 
forms  between  the  two  ends  thus  finished.  This  would 
provide  three  expansion  joints  on  each  side,  which 
would  be  just  right. 

They  had  just  completed  the  erection  of  the  forms 
for  the  north  end  and  filled  the  hopper  with  a  new 
batch,  ready  to  be  hoisted  into  the  drum,  when  Bob 


VISITORS  169 

happened  to  look  toward  the  barn  and  saw  the  car 
come  to  a  stop  in  the  barnyard.  By  the  time  he  had 
cranked  the  engine,  the  occupants  of  the  car  had 
alighted  and  his  uncle  was  starting  for  the  house,  his 
arms  full  of  suitcases.  Bob  noticed  that  one  of  the 
girls  who  had  alighted  was  of  medium  height  and 
slender,  while  the  other  was  short  and  rather  stout. 

"  Is  that  your  new  hen  house?  "  he  heard  the  stout 
one  inquire  of  his  aunt,  as  he  stopped  the  engine  on  the 
mixer,  and  she  looked  over  in  Bob's  direction. 

Bob  had  again  filled  the  drum  and  was  watching 
the  mixing  of  the  concrete  a  few  moments  later,  when 
he  heard  someone  behind  him  and  turned  around. 

"  We  thought  we'd  come  out  and  see  how  you're 
getting  along,  Bob,"  said  his  aunt,  smiling  at  him, 
while  the  tv\^o  girls  came  forward  as  she  spoke.  "  I 
want  you  to  meet  my  nieces,  Bob.  This  is  Ruth 
Thomas,  and  this  is  Edith  Atwood — and  this  young 
man,  girls,  is  Robert  Williams,  about  whom  I  spoke." 

"  What  a  fib,  Aunt  Bettie,"  laughed  Ruth.  "  You 
know  you've  been  talking  about  him  ever  since  we  got 
off  the  train,  and  besides,  you  called  him  '  Bob,'  not 
Robert." 

"  May  I  call  you  '  Bob,'  too?  "  she  asked,  looking 
up  at  him.  "  I  like  it  better  than  Robert.  It  doesn't 
take  so  long  to  say." 

"  Of  course,"  replied  Bob,  blushing.  "  I  guess  I 
wouldn't  know  who  you  meant  if  you  called  me  *  Rob- 
ert,' for  I've  been  called  *  Bob '  ever  since  I  can 
remember." 


170  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"Is  that  concrete,  Bob?"  asked  Ruth  suddenly, 
as  he  stopped  the  engine  and  brought  the  drum  to  a 
standstill.     "  What  makes  it  so  gray?  " 

"  The  cement,"  said  Bob,  pleased  to  see  her  inter- 
ested in  his  work. 

"  Is  it  sticky  ?  "  she  asked,  as  she  put  her  fingers 
into  it  and  stirred  around  in  the  mixture. 

"  Why,  it's  gritty,  just  like  sand,  Aunt  Bettie,"  she 
said  looking  up. 

"  Of  course,"  said  Bob.  "  That's  because  it's  made 
of  sand  and  gravel  and  cement." 

"  May  I  see  you  make  some?  "  she  asked. 

"  Yes,  in  a  few  minutes,"  he  replied ;  "  just  as 
soon  as  we  empty  the  drum.  You'd  better  stand  back 
a  little  so  that  you  won't  get  splashed  when  the  con- 
crete goes  into  the  wheel-barrow,"  as  Tony  came 
forward. 

"  And  this  is  Tony,  Bob's  assistant,  girls,"  said 
their  aunt. 

"  This  is  Ruth,  Tony,  and  this  is  Edith." 

"I-a  please  to  meet  da  young-a  ladies,"  said  Tony, 
more  embarrassed  even  than  Bob  had  been,  as  he 
awkwardly  placed  the  wheel-barrow  under  the  drum. 

As  soon  as  the  drum  was  empty,  Bob  measured  out 
a  charge  of  four  parts  gravel,  two  parts  sand  and  one 
part  cement,  and  then  started  the  engine  and  dumped 
them  into  the  drum,  where  he  added  sufficient  water 
for  the  mixing. 

"How  do  you  tell  how  much  water  to  put  in?" 
asked  Ruth. 


VISITORS  171 

"Oh,  we  learned  that  by  experience,"  said  Bob. 
"  You  see  the  mixer  has  a  tank  on  top  that  holds  the 
right  amount,  but  this  may  be  varied  if  you  like.  The 
concrete  must  be  wet  enough  so  that  it  quakes,  but  not 
thin  enough  to  run  like  water." 

"  Let  me  put  in  the  water  next  time.  Bob,  won't 
you?  "  she  asked.  "  Say,  Aunt  Bettie,  may  I  help  Bob 
mix  his  concrete?  " 

*'  You  better  come  to  the  house  and  help  me," 
replied  her  aunt  laughing.  "Bob  and  Tony,  I'm  afraid, 
would  only  find  you  in  the  way." 

"  All  right,"  said  Ruth,  "  but  on  Monday  I'll  help 
you.  Bob,"  and  she  started  for  the  house  with  her 
aunt  and  cousin,  the  latter  Bob  now  recalled  had  not 
spoken  a  single  word,  beyond  the  introduction. 

"  I'm  going  to  help  Bob  mix  concrete  on  Monday, 
Uncle  Joe,"  said  Ruth  at  supper  that  night.  "  I  know 
how  it's  done.  You  take  four  parts  of  cement,  two 
of  sand  and  one  part  of  gravel,  and  put  them  in  the, 
'What  do  you  call  it,  Bob?'" 

"  Drum,"  said  Bob. 

"  Yes,  drum,"  repeated  Ruth.  "  You  see.  Uncle 
Joe,  I  know  how  to  mix  it." 

"  You  use  only  one  part  of  cement,  Ruth,"  cor- 
rected her  cousin,  "  and  two  of  sand  and  four  of 
gravel." 

Bob  glanced  up  quickly  at  this  clear  statement  of  the 
facts,  and  for  the  first  time  looked  directly  into  the 
brown  eyes  of  Edith  Atwood. 


XIV 

RUTH  AND  THE  STRAW  STACK 

The  Monday  morning's  mail  brought  them  notice 
that  the  cement  drain  tile  had  arrived  in  town.  They 
found  it  cheaper  to  buy  this  from  a  firm  that  made  a 
specialty  of  tile  rather  than  try  to  make  them,  and, 
more  important  still,  a  letter  had  been  received  by  Tony 
saying  his  wife  would  arrive  on  the  ten  o'clock  train ; 
so  it  was  decided  that  work  should  be  suspended  on  the 
hen  house  for  the  morning  and  that  Tony  and  Bob 
should  take  the  car  and  drive  in  to  meet  the  train, 
while  Joe  Williams  would  take  the  team  and  bring  out 
the  tile  and  some  new  seed  corn  that  he  was  getting  for 
the  spring  planting — a  new  variety  that  John  White 
had  persuaded  him  to  try. 

At  eight-thirty  work  on  the  hen  house  was  sus- 
pended, the  car  gotten  out  and  cleaned,  Bob  changed 
his  clothes,  and  Tony,  with  as  much  of  the  dirt 
removed  as  possible — smiling  and  happy — got  into  the 
car  and  drove  to  the  station.  They  arrived  just  a  few 
minutes  before  the  train,  Bob  remaining  in  the  car 
while  Tony  went  around  the  station  to  meet  his  wife, 
as  she  alighted  from  the  train. 

A  few  minutes  later  Bob's  ears  were  greeted  by 
the  sound  of  animated  conversation  in  a  foreign 
tongue,  not  a  word  of  which  was  intelligible  to  him, 

172 


RUTH  AND  THE  STRAW  STACK  173 

but  every  word  of  which  seemed  to  please  the  speakers. 
A  little  later  Tony  came  around  the  corner  of  the 
station,  a  huge  suitcase  under  each  arm,  followed  by  a 
rather  good-looking  woman  of  medium  height,  and, 
like  Tony,  a  true  t\'pe  of  sunny  Italy.  She  was  dressed 
much  better  than  Bob  had  expected  to  find  her, 
and  when  Tony  said,  "  This-a  my  wife,  Mr.  Bob," 
he  was  surprised  to  hear  her  say  in  very  good  English : 
"  I'm  pleased  to  meet  you,  Mr.  Williams,"  letting  her 
gaze  fall  as  she  greeted  him. 

As  soon  as  Bob  had  recovered  from  his  surprise, 
he  jumped  down  from  the  seat,  opened  the  door  of  the 
tonneau  and  helped  her  into  the  car,  an  act  of  courtesy 
which  the  smiling  eyes  of  Tony  quickly  acknowledged. 
One  of  the  suitcases  was  put  on.  the  empty  front  seat 
of  the  car  and  the  other  was  placed  on  end  between 
Tony  and  his  wife  in  the  tonneau,  and  then  they  started 
for  the  farm. 

While  Tony  and  his  wife  carried  on  an  animated 
conversation  in  Italian,  Bob  was  not  without  his  own 
thoughts.  He  was  trying  to  figure  out  how  Tony,  who 
had  difficulty  in  expressing  his  ideas  in  English,  should 
happen  to  have  such  a  good-looking  English-speaking 
Italian  wife.  He  was  not  aware  that  many  of  the 
American-born  Italian  boys  and  girls  receive  high 
school  educations,  and,  of  course,  he  didn't  know  that 
Tony,  who  had  been  born  in  Italy,  should  have  met 
in  the  house  of  a  distant  relative,  a  young  woman  who 
had  had  these  advantages,  and  who  should  have  found 


174  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

in  the  good-natured  Tony,  with  his  foreign  manners, 
the  object  of  her  love.  He  was  wondering,  too,  how  she 
might  Hke  farm  work  and  how  his  Aunt  Bettie  might 
like  her. 

He  didn't  have  long  to  wait,  for  now  that  the  roads 
were  getting  dry  and  better,  he  made  the  trip  in  less 
than  twenty  minutes  and  they  were  soon  speeding  up 
the  new  driveway  to  the  house.  He  jumped  out  of  the 
car,  and  taking  one  of  the  suitcases  conducted  Tony 
and  his  wife  to  his  aunt,  who  had  come  out  on  the 
porch  to  greet  them,  and  he  noticed  that  she  was  as 
much  surprised  as  he  had  been  when  Tony  blush- 
ingly  said : 

"  This-a  my  wife,  Mrs.  Williams,"  and  she  had 
replied : 

"  I'm  pleased  to  know  you,  Mrs.  Williams,"  extend- 
ing her  hand.  "  My  name  is  Maria  Martinelli,"  she 
added.  "  Tony  has  been  telling  me  what  a  fine  place 
you  have  here,  and  how  kind  you've  been  to  him.  I'm 
sure  I'll  be  very  happy  working  for  you." 

"  Well,  we  do  like  Tony  and  I  believe  he  likes  us, 
and  I  hope  you'll  like  us  also,"  Aunt  Bettie  replied. 

Tony  now  started  for  his  room,  the  suitcases  under 
his  arms. 

"  We  haven't  Tony's  room  very  well  fixed  up  yet," 
Mrs.  Williams  continued,  as  Tony's  wife  followed  him 
up  the  stairs,  "  but  you  and  I  can  take  care  of  that  in 
the  next  few  days." 

Bob  felt  sure  that  his  Aunt  Bettie  had  already  estab- 


RUTH  AND  THE  STRAW  STACK  175 

lished  pleasant  relations  with  her  new  assistant,  and 
whistled  merrily  as  he  changed  into  his  working 
clothes. 

W^hen  he  returned  to  the  hen  house  he  was  sur- 
prised to  see  some  one  in  a  brand  new  suit  of  funny- 
looking  overalls  sitting  on  the  gravel  pile  waiting  for 
him.  As  he  came  near,  the  stranger  arose  and  looked 
toward  him,  but  it  was  not  until  he  got  within  a  few 
feet  that  he  recognized  in  the  figure  before  him  Ruth 
Thomas. 

"  Aunt  Bettie  said  she'd  let  me  help  you  with  the 
concrete,  Bob,  so  I  put  on  these.  How  do  you  like 
my  farmerette  clothes?"  she  asked  smiling. 

"  Well,  you  surprised  me,  all  right,"  laughed  Bob, 
as,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  he  saw  a  girl  dressed 
in  man's  clothes. 

"What  do  you  do  first,  Bob?  "  she  asked,  going 
over  to  the  mixer  and  pulling  on  the  levers ;  "  put  in  the 
water  or  the  cement  ?  " 

"  Neither,"  said  Bob,  still  trying  to  decide  whether 
he  approved  of  her  manner  of  dress  or  not.  "  We've 
all  the  concrete  mixed  that  we  need  until  we  finish  set- 
ting up  the  forms  at  the  south  end." 

"  Give  me  a  hammer  then,  and  I'll  help  drive  the 
nails,"  she  said,  coming  round  to  where  Bob  was  level- 
ing up  some  of  the  forms. 

"  All  right,  drive  a  nail  in  there,"  he  said,  indicat- 
ing the  end  of  a  brace  that  leaned  against  the  forms. 

Ruth  took  the  hammer  and  tapped  the  nail  gently, 


176  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

succeeding  in  starting  it,  then  she  raised  the  hammer 
and  struck  hard.  The  hammer  descended  squarely  on 
the  nail,  but  not  the  nail  in  the  brace,  but  the  nail  on 
her  left  thumb.  With  a  cry  of  pain  she  dropped  the 
hammer  and  tried  hard  tO'  keep  back  the  tears. 

"  You'll  have — to — excuse — me.  Bob,  until — I  go 
— ^to  the  house  and  tie  this  up,"  she  said,  hesitatingly, 
"  but  as  soon  as  Aunt  Bettie  puts  something  on  it,  I'll 
be  back,"  and  as  she  disappeared  Bob  heard  her  chok- 
ing back  her  sobs. 

His  sympathy  struggled  for  a  few  moments  with 
his  humor,  but  the  latter  got  the  better  of  him,  and 
as  soon  as  Ruth  got  well  out  of  hearing,  he  couldn't 
refrain  any  longer  from  laughing  at  the  funny  figure 
she  cut  in  her  new  clothes  and  the  abrupt  ending  to  her 
ambition  to  help  build  the  hen  house. 

He  found  that  he  couldn't  get  along  very  well  with 
the  forms  by  himself,  so  he  decided  tO'  knock  off  until 
after  dinner.  He  was  crossing  over  to  the  barn,  where 
he  met  Ruth  still  dressed  in  her  overalls,  her  thumb  tied 
up,  coming  into  the  barnyard  with  her  cousin  Edith. 

"  We  thought  we'd  like  to  look  over  the  barn  until 
my  thumb  quits  hurting,"  called  Ruth. 

"  All  right,"  said  Bob,  and  he  conducted  them  into 
the  thrashing  floor  where  he  explained  how  a  barn  was 
built  and  where  the  hay  was  kept  and  how  they  fed 
the  different  horses  and  cattle  from  the  thrashing  floor. 
Most  of  the  mows  were  now  almost  empty  and  the 
bam  had  the  appearance  of  great  size. 


RUTH  AND  THE  STRAW  STACK  177 

"  I'm  going  to  climb  up  into  the  hay  mow,"  said 
Ruth,  as  she  started  for  the  ladder. 

"  Why  do  you  want  to  go  up  there,  Ruth?  "  asked 
Edith. 

"  Oh,  I  want  tO'  see  what  the  place  looks  like," 
replied  Ruth,  as  she  nimbly  climbed  the  ladder  and 
stepped  off  into  the  mow. 

"  Come  on  up,  it  's  fine  up  here,"  she  called. 

Bob  quickly  followed  her  and  a  moment  later  Edith 
joined  them. 

Pausing  there  for  a  few  minutes,  they  climbed  over 
into  another  mow  and  looked  out  through  a  window 
on  the  side  of  the  bam. 

"  Why,  we  can  get  on  the  roof  from  here,"  said 
Ruth. 

"  Yes,"  said  Bob,  "  we  can." 

**  Let's  go  out  then,"  she  said. 

"  But  you  might  slide  off,"  warned  Bob. 

"No  danger  of  that,"  replied  Ruth;  "we've  got 
our  sneakers  on." 

So  he  crawled  through  the  window  and  standing 
on  the  roof  first  helped  Ruth  and  then  Edith  through. 

"  It  isn't  as  steep  as  it  looks  from  the  ground,  and 
I'm  going  on  up*to  the  top,"  said  Ruth. 

Bob  helped  Edith  up  and  they  sat  on  the  ridge  for 
several  minutes  looking  out  over  the  farm,  Bob  point- 
ing out  to  them  the  places  of  interest,  and  telling  them 
the  story  of  how  the  new  dam  and  ditch  came  to  be 
built. 

12 


178  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

As  they  sat  there,  they  noticed  their  uncle  coming 
up  the  lane  and  that  he  had  already  reached  the  foot 
of  the  hill. 

"  Why,  there  comes  Uncle  Joe,"  shouted  Ruth,  as 
she  started  running  down  the  side  of  the  barn  ftoward 
him,  on  which  side  a  lean-to  was  built,  and  beyond 
which  stood  last  year's  straw  stack,  the  top  about  even 
with  the  roof  of  the  lean-to. 

"  Come  on,  Edith,  I'm  going  to  jump  off  the  roof 
on  to  the  straw  stack,"  she  shouted,  and  before  Bob 
could  stop  her  she  had  jumped  and  landed  on  the  stack. 

"  It  didn't  seem  so  difficult,  Bob,"  said  Edith,  and 
she  also  started  running  down  the  side.  "  I  guess  I 
can  make  it,  too,"  she  called,  and  leaped  on  to  the 
stack,  where  Bob  joined  them  a  moment  later. 

The  three  stood  waving  their  hands  and  shouting 
to  their  uncle.  Suddenly  Ruth  exclaimed :  "I'm  going 
to  slide  down  the  side  of  the  stack,"  and  moved  over  to 
the  side  nearest  to  her  uncle,  who,  seeing  her  inten- 
tion, stood  up  in  the  wagon  and  shook  the  whip  at  her, 
warning  her  not  to  do  so.  Ruth  only  took  his  warning 
as  a  dare,  and  throwing  her  arms  high  over  her  head 
with  a  loud  shout  started  to  slide  down  the  side  of  the 
stack.  Now  the  stack  had  furnished  feed  for  the  cat- 
tle all  winter  and  they  had  eaten  under  the  edges,  so  that 
it  was  like  a  huge  toadstool.  From  his  position  in  the 
lane,  her  uncle  saw  what  Ruth  could  not  see  from  the 
top — ^that  there  were  cattle  under  the  edge.  As  Ruth 
came  noisily  down  the  side  her  shouting  caused  a  cow 


RUTH  AND  THE  STRAW  STACK  179 

standing  under  the  edge  of  the  stack  to  come  running 
out.  The  two  met  just  at  the  edge  of  the  stack,  Ruth 
landing  squarely  on  the  cow's  back,  her  back  to  her 
head. 

With  a  snort  and  a  plunge,  the  cow  started  to  race 
across  the  barnyard,  and  it  was  hard  to  tell  which  was 
the  more  surprised — Ruth  or  the  cow.  In  her  eager- 
ness to  get  rid  of  her  unexpected  burden,  the  cow  threw 
her  hindquarters  from  side  to  side,  as  she  ran — a  motion 
that  seemed  to  be  exactly  timed  with  Ruth's  endeavor 
to  fall  off  on  that  particular  side,  as  each  sudden  change 
threw  her  into  a  vertical  position  again. 

So  with  her  hands  on  the  cow's  back  and  rolling 
from  side  to  side  she  managed  to  maintain  her  seat, 
until  the  cow,  seeing  she  was  unable  to  get  rid  of  her 
burden,  ran  for  a  black  walnut  tree,  which  stood  near 
the  old  pump.  She  ran  close  against  this  tree  and  Ruth 
came  shooting  from  the  cow's  back,  much  like  a  big 
frog  jumping  into  a  pond,  landing  unhurt  on  all  fours 
on  the  soft  litter  of  the  barnyard. 

Edith  and  Bob  were  still  standing  on  top  of  the 
straw  stack  rocking  with  laughter  at  the  ridiculous 
figure  cut  by  Ruth,  while  their  uncle  stopped  the  team 
and  hurried  up  the  bank  as  fast  as  he  could  go.  He 
was  the  first  to  get  to  Ruth  as  she  picked  herself  up 
and  began  brushing  off  the  dust. 

Then  Bob  slid  over  the  side  of  the  stack  to  make 
sure  there  were  no  more  cattle  in  the  way,  and  a  few 
minutes  later  was  joined  by  Edith.    They  hurried  for- 


180  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

ward  together  to  where  Ruth  was  standing"  and  found, 
with  the  exception  of  a  bruise  on  her  chin  and  a  rent 
in  one  sleeve,  where  it  had  rubbed  along  the  ground, 
she  was  unhurt  and  laughing  as  merrily  as  the  rest. 

"  Say,  Ruth,"  said  her  uncle,  seeing  she  was  unin- 
jured, "  next  time  you  want  to  ride  one  of  the  cows, 
let  me  know  and  I'll  get  you  a  saddle,  or  maybe  you'd 
rather  try  one  of  the  horses." 

"Oh,  I  didn't  get  hurt  a  bit.  Uncle  Joe,"  she 
laughed,  "  and  it  really  was  lots  of  fun." 


XV 

NEW    METHODS 

The  next  week  was  a  busy  one  on  Brookside 
Farm.  All  were  deeply  engaged  with  their  several 
occupations.  Saturday  brought  the  first  interruption 
to  the  work  when  John  White,  the  banker,  paid  them  a 
visit.  He  appeared  in  his  large  touring  car,  instead  of 
his  usual  runabout.  Mrs.  White,  their  daughter,  a  girl 
of  fourteen,  whom  Bob  had  seen  in  the  bank  talking  to 
her  father ;  and  two  young  boys,  about  Bob's  own  age, 
and  whom  Bob  did  not  know,  were  with  him. 

They  arrived  shortly  after  three  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon.  Bob  and  Tony  were  setting  up  the  pre-cast 
concrete  sections,  forming  the  walls  and  partitions  qf 
the  hen  house.  The  party  alighted,  and,  led  by  Mr. 
White,  came  over  to  the  hen  house  to  inspect  the  work. 
This  was  the  banker's  custom  on  his  visits  to  Brookside 
Farm. 

"  Hello,  Bob!  "  he  called.  "  Come  over  and  meet 
Mrs.  White,"  and  Bob  stepped  forward  and  was 
introduced. 

"  This  is  my  daughter  Alice,  and  this  is  my  sister's 
son,  Edward  Brown,  and  his  friend,  Herbert  Potter — 
and  this  is  Bob  Williams,  the  boy  I've  been  telling  you 
about." 

Again  Bob  extended  his  hand  in  greeting,  but  it  was 

181 


182  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

accepted  rather  indifferently,  he  thought,  by  the  other 
two  boys,  which  did  not  aid  in  establishing  friendly 
relations.  In  fact,  Bob  felt  that  they  rather  held  them- 
selves above  him. 

Mrs.  White  was  a  large  motherly  woman.  She 
had  light  hair  and  blue  eyes  and  had  not  talked  long 
before  Bob  discovered  that  she  had  a  deep  interest  in 
her  husband's  business,  for  the  questions  she  asked 
were  such  that  he  knew  the  banker  must  have  been 
explaining  to  her  about  the  work  being  done  on  Brook- 
side  Farm, 

The  banker  now  left  them  to  go  around  the  other 
side  of  the  building  to  speak  to  Tony,  while  Bob 
explained  to  Mrs.  White  and  the  boys  how  they  made 
the  pre-cast  slabs  and  set  them  in  place  on  the  wall  and 
braced  them,  to  hold  them  in  line,  until  the  concrete 
studs  were  cast  to  form  the  permanent  supports  for 
the  roof. 

"  You  know,  Bob,"  said  Mrs.  White,  "  this  is  the 
most  interesting  thing  I've!  ever  seen  in  my  life.  Just 
think  of  being  able  to  dig  your  buildings  out  of  the 
side  of  the  hill.  I  think  it's  all  perfectly  wonderful  the 
way  you're  making  use  of  your  *  Hiddea  Treasure,*  as 
Mr.  White  tells  me  you  call  the  undeveloped  resources 
of  your  farm." 

Bob  now  got  his  drawing  and  explained  to  her  the 
manner  in  which  the  hen  house  was  planned  to  get  the 
southern  exposure ;  also  the  arrangements  for  feeding 
the  chickens,  gathering  the  eggs,  the  system  of  ven- 


NEW  METHODS  183 

tilation  adopted  which  would  prevent  draughts  and 
keep  the  hen  house  well  ventilated  in  both  winter  and 
summer.  Also  the  feed  and  incubator  house  and  how 
each  could  be  extended  from  time  to  time  by  simply- 
building  on  to  the  ends. 

Mrs.  White  asked  a  great  many  questions  and  Bob 
felt  sure  she  was  not  talking  just  to  be  polite,  but  was 
really  interested  in  the  work  they  were  doing.  It 
gave  him  much  pleasure  to  know  that  the  time  he  had 
spent  in  reading  up  on  farm  work  was  producing 
results. 

Bob's  Aunt  Bettie  and  the  two  girls  now  came 
out  to  greet  their  guests.  Introductions  followed,  and 
a  few  minutes  later  the  party  adjourned  to  the  house, 
all  except  Bob,  Tony  and  the  banker.  No  amount  of 
urging  on  the  part  of  Bob's  aunt  could  persuade  the 
banker  to  leave  the  hen  house,  the  construction  of 
which  interested  him  so  much. 

"  I  like  your  idea,  Bob,"  he  said,  "  in  making  your 
buildings  of  pre-cast  standardized  sections.  I  can  see 
where  this  type  of  construction  would  have  great 
advantages  in  the  winter,  and,  at  odd  times,  when  a 
farmer  isn't  busy  he  can  make  up  some  sections  and 
let  them  harden,  and,  whenever  he  gets  enough  for  a 
building,  he  can  put  them  together  quickly.  Where 
did  you  get  the  idea  for  this  kind  of  work?  " 

"  Well,  partly  from  the  bulletins  and  partly  from 
Tony,  and  the  rest  T  just  thought  out  myself.  You  see, 
Mr.   Wliite,  the  bulletins  say  a  wall  of  a  building  is 


184  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

always  dryer,  warmer  in  winter  and  cooler  in  summer, 
if  it's  hollow,  and  besides  it  only  takes  about  half  the 
material.  Then,  you  see,  there's  an  advantage  wheni 
you  want  to  put  in  ventilation  to  use  the  hollow  wall 
for  that  purpose.  While  Tony  and  I  have  been  work- 
ing on  the  hen  house,  I've  been  turning  over  in  my 
mind  the  design  for  the  cow  barn.  These  hollow  walls 
are  going  tO'  be  of  great  service  for  ventilating  that 
building?  " 

"Can  you  construct  your  cow  barn  with  the  same 
size  units  that  you  made  for  the  hen  house?  " 

"  Yes,  Mr.  White,  we  figured  that  all  out  before 
we  started  our  dairy  building,  and  we  expect  to  use  the 
same  construction  on  all  our  buildings,  even  on  the  silo. 
Of  course,  in  that  case,  we'll  have  to  make  the  sec- 
tions curved,  but  Tony  says  that  won't  be  a  difficult 
thing  to  do.  You  know,  Mr.  White,  Tony  under- 
stands drawings,  and  has  been  able  to  give  me  some 
good  suggestions — particularly  on  how  to  handle  and 
make  forms.  He  says  he  started  to  learn  the  carpen- 
ter trade  when  he  was  only  ten  years  old,  and  he  can 
file  a  saw  or  sharpen  a  plane  so  they'll  cut  fine." 

"  Well,  I'm  very  much  interested,  Bob,  in  the  way 
you're  getting  along  with  this  work.  As  soon  as  you 
get  this  building  up  to  the  roof,  I'm  going  to  ask  your 
Uncle  Joe  tO'  let  me  give  a  party  at  Brookside  Farm 
some  Saturday,  and  have  all  the  farmers  around  this 
section  come  and  see  what  you're  doing.  We'll  prob- 
ably have  to  wait  until  they  get  their  plowing  done 


NEW  METHODS  185 

and  their  com  in.  You  know,"  he  added,  "  they 
didn't  have  a  tractor  to  do  their  work  for  them  Hke 
you  did,  but  I've  a  notion  that  I've  made  some  of 
them  jealous,  and  there'll  be  a  number  of  tractors  run- 
ning in  the  county  next  spring,  if  I  don't  miss  my  guess. 
How'd  you  like  to  have  a  little  help.  Bob,  when  you 
go  to  put  up  the  cow  barn?  " 

"  What  do  you  mean,  Mr.  White?  " 

"  Well,  I've  been  thinking  for  some  time  that  the 
way  to  get  the  other  farmers  around  here  interested  in 
concrete  work  and  get  them  buying  sand  from  your 
pit,  Bob,  would  be  to  have  them  send  some  of  their 
boys  over  here  to  learn  how  cement  work  is  done,  for 
while  anyone  can  easily  learn  how  to  use  cement, 
still  it  must  be  understood  to  use  it  correctly.  Of 
course,  they'll  have  a  good  deal  of  work  to  do,  but 
after  planting  their  oats  and  corn,  they  might  be  able 
to  take  a  few  days  off"  and  come  to  help  you." 

"  We  won't  be  ready  to  start  the  cow  barn  that 
soon,"  said  Bob. 

"  But  couldn't  they  be  making  up  these  pre-cast 
sections,  as  you  call  them,  or  dig  out  for  the  founda- 
tions and  put  in  the  concrete  footings." 

"  Oh,  yes,  we  could  do  that,  but  Aunt  Bettie  and 
I  haven't  decided  definitely  on  our  plans  yet." 

"  Couldn't  you  hurry  them  up  a  little  so  we  could 
get  the  cow  barn  under  way?  It  seems  to  me  if  we 
could  get  the  farmers'  sons  here  to  Brookside,  and  get 
them  interested  in  concrete  buildings,  they  could  then 


186  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

show  their  fathers  how  the  work  is  done,  for,"  he 
added  laughing,  "  it's  easier  to  teach  a  young  dog  a  new 
trick  than  an  old  one.  Besides,  Bob,  don't  lose  sight 
of  the  fact  that  it  will  be  profitable  for  you." 

"How's  that?"  asked  Bob. 

"  You  agree  to  pay  them  for  their  labor  in  sand 
and  gravel,  and  once  you  get  them  using  concrete, 
they'll  come  back  for  more.  Since  you  were  in  to  see 
me  last,  I've  been  thinking  the  matter  over  and  I  believe 
you  can  manage  it  so  you  can  get  what  help  you  need 
in  this  way,  except,  perhaps,  one  or  two  carpenters 
when  you  come  to  the  heavy  work  of  the  cow  barn.  It 
will  be  to  their  advantage  to  learn  how  to  do  the  work. 
I  was  talking  to  the  twO'  boys  we  brought  out  with 
us  to-day  to  see  if  I  couldn't  get  them  to  help  you,  but 
they  said  they  didn't  want  tO'  be  mussing  around  with 
farm  work.  I  told  Edward,  my  nephew,  that  he  didn't 
understand  enough  about  farms  to  know  what  was 
good  for  him,  or  he'd  be  glad  to  help  you.  Well,  I 
must  go  and  see  your  Uncle  Joe.  Think  over  what 
I've  been  telling  you  about  having  the  farmers'  boys 
help  you  and  I'll  think  it  over  too  and  see  how  it  can 
be  managed.  Of  course,  you  wouldn't  want  them  all 
here  at  one  time.  I  think  if  they  came  two  or  three 
at  a  time,  it  would  be  better.  We  could  work  out  a 
schedule  of  dates,  and  know  when  each  boy  would 
come  so  there  would  be  no  break  in  the  working  force. 
You'd  better  see  if  you'll  have  tools  and  forms  enough 
to  keep  them  all  working,  Bob,  and  if  you  don't,  your 
Uncle  Joe  ought  to  get  you  a  few  more." 


NEW  METHODS  187 

Left  to  himself,  Bob  began  to  turn  over  in  his 
mind  the  possibilities  and  advantages  of  having  more 
assistance,  and  getting  the  cow  barn  started  earlier 
than  he  had  anticipated.  Now  that  it  would  only 
require  a  little  more  than  another  week  to  complete 
the  hen  house,  he  decided  that  with  double  the  number 
of  forms  they  were  now  using,  and  keeping  Duncan 
Wallace  casting  sections,  instead  of  fence  posts,  as  they 
had  originally  planned,  they  could  probably  get  enough 
made  for  a  good  start  on  the  cow  barn  by  the  time  the 
excavations  and  footings  were  in  place. 

At  four-thirty  Bob  quit  work  as  usual  and  went 
to  the  house  and  cleaned  up  to  do  his  milking.  Just 
as  he  was  finishing  his  last  cow,  his  Aunt  Bettie  and 
the  girls,  accompanied  by  their  visitors,  came  into  the 
yard  to  see  him  milk.  Bob  explained  that  as  soon  as 
the  new  cow  barn  was  finished,  the  milking  would  no 
longer  be  done  in  the  barnyard,  but  in  the  barn,  and 
instead  of  milking  by  hand,  they  would  install  auto- 
matic milking  machines.  He  could  then  take  care  of 
twenty  cows  easier  than  he  could  now  take  care  of 
ten  milked  by  hand. 

"  How  do  you  like  the  new  Holsteins?  "  asked  the 
banker,  as  he  watched  Bob  finish  off  the  last  cow. 

"  They're  fine,  Mr.  White.  This  one's  name  is 
Spot.  She's  my  favorite;  she's  a  three-year-old  and 
gives  twenty  quarts  of  milk  each  day.  That's  better 
than  j^y  of  the  others,  although  two  of  them  come 
pretty  dose  to  her.     When  we  get  the  new  bam  and 


188  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

can  regulate  their  feeding,  they'll  all  do  much  better." 

"  Why,  do  you  know  how  much  milk  each  cow 
gives?"  inquired  Mrs.  White,  surprised. 

"  Certainly,"  said  Bob,  "  we  not  only  know,  but  we 
set  down  every  day  how  much  we  get,  so  we  can  keep 
a  record.  If  you'll  come  down  to  the  dairy  house,  I'll 
show  you  how  it's  done.  Of  course,  we  don't  measure 
each  cow's  milk  separately  every  day,  or  weigh  their 
cream  every  day,  but  every  time  I  milk,  I  keep  the  milk 
of  one  cow  in  a  separate  pail,  so  it  may  be  weighed. 
For  instance,  I'm  taking  note  of  Spot's  yield  to-day." 

"  This  is  very  interesting.  Bob,"  said  Mrs.  White. 
"  I  didn't  think  you  went  intO'  farming  so  scientifically." 

"  They  don't  on  some  farms,"  replied  Bob,  "  but 
Aunt  Bettie  and  I  keep  books  here  on  Brookside  Farm. 
We  want  to  find  out  what  pays  the  best." 

"  That's  right,"  said  the  banker,  "  working  and 
figuring  go  hand  in  hand,  and  if  you  keep  that  up 
Brookside  Farm  will  soon  be  paying  a  good  profit." 

"  Will  you  let  me  see  your  books  after  supper, 
Bob?  "  he  asked.  "  Your  Aunt  Bettie  has  invited  us  all 
to  stay  and  have  supper  with  you." 

"  Yes,"  said  Bob.    "  I'll  be  glad  to." 

"  Did  that  one  cow  give  that  much  milk  ?  "  asked 
the  banker's  wife  in  astonishment,  as  she  saw  the  huge 
pail  Bob  had  gotten  from  Spot. 

"  Yes,"  said  Bob  proudly. 

**  Why,  I  had  no  idea  one  cow  could  give  so  much 
milk,"  she  replied. 


>   i^k^r': 


NEW  METHODS  189 

"  That's  why,"  said  Bob,  "  it  doesn't  pay  tO'  keep 
common  cows.  They  eat  as  much  as  a  purebred 
and  don't  give  nearly  as  much  milk.  Besides,  their 
milk  isn't  as  rich  as  Holsteins.  If  you  come  along  to 
the  dairy  house,  I'll  show  you  how  we  separate  the  milk 
and  get  the  cream." 

"  May  I  carry  one  of  the  pails,  Bob?  "  asked  Ruth. 

"  You'll  have  to  be  careful,  Ruth,  if  you  carry  it," 
admonished  her  aunt.  "If  you  and  Edith  don't  go 
racing,  you  may  carry  it  between  you,"  she  continued, 
as  the  two  girls  picked  up  one  of  the  largest  pails  and 
started  off  for  the  dairy  house. 

When  they  arrived,  Bob  weighed  the  milk  given 
by  Spot  and  made  a  note  of  it  in  his  record  book,  set- 
ting down  the  date  and  name  of  the  cow;  then  he 
weighed  the  balance  of  the  milk,  and  under  the  heading 
of  *'  Herd  of  Ten  Cows,"  he  set  down  the  total  amount 
given  by  all. 

"  You  see,"  said  Bob,  "  in  this  way  we  have  an 
individual  record  of  milk  taken  every  ten  days  from 
each  cow,  and  a  daily  record  of  the  ten  taken  together. 
It  doesn't  make  so  much  bookkeeping  and  is  close 
enough  for  all  practical  purposes.  When  we  get  our 
electric  lights  in,  Mrs.  White,"  he  continued,  as  he 
started  the  separator,  "  we're  going  to  put  an  electric 
motor  on  the  separator.  Then  I  can  be  doing  some- 
thing else  while  the  milk's  going  through." 

"  Listen  to  that,  Ida,"  said  the  banker,  addressing 
his  wife.     "  Everything  on  Brookside  is  going  to  be 


190  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

run  by  power  and  every  person  on  the  farm  will  be 
multiplied  by  two  or  five  before  Bob  and  his  Aunt  Bet- 
tie  get  through,  and  besides  it  won't  be  such  hard 
work." 

"  No,"  laughed  Bob,  "  when  the  power  does  the 
work,  you  don't  notice  it  so  much." 

"  That's  so,"  said  the  banker's  wife;  "  you  must  be 
tired,  Bob,  at  the  end  of  a  day,  with  all  the  activities 
you  have  around  here." 

"  Oh,  one  gets  used  to  it,  Mrs.  White.  I've  gained 
ten  pounds  since  I  came  here." 

He  put  the  cream  he  had  gotten  in  a  cream  can  and 
placed  it  in  the  trough.  He  opened  the  icehouse  door 
and  put  some  more  ice  around  the  cans. 

"  How'd  you  happen  to  get  the  old  ice  in  the  new 
dairy,  Bob?  "  asked  the  banker. 

"  Well,  we  figured  if  we  left  it  in  the  old  icehouse, 
over  half  of  it  would  melt  during  the  summer  and  we 
wouldn't  lose  anything  like  that  much  by  transferring 
it,  so  we  put  it  on  the  wagon  and  hauled  it  over.  Of 
course,  when  this  ice  was  cut,  the  cakes  were  made  all 
kinds  of  sizes,  which  gave  us  some  trouble  in  piling  it 
up.  Next  year  we're  going  to  cut  the  ice  in  twenty-two 
by  twenty-two-inch  sizes.  I  don't  know  whether  I  told 
you  or  not,  Mr.  White,  but  the  floor  of  the  icehouse 
slopes  toward  the  center,  so  each  cake  helps  to  support 
the  other  as  we  take  them  out." 

"  Just  listen  to  that,  Ida.  See  how  Bob  has  figured 
out  all  these  things.  Who  would  have  thought  of 
that?" 


NEW  METHODS  191 

"  I  didn't,"  confessed  Bob.  "  That  was  in  one  of 
the  farm  bulletins  on  icehouse  construction." 

"  Somebody  else  worked  it  out,  but  you  used  the 
idea,"  said  the  banker.  "  Often  a  man  who  can  utilize 
another's  idea  can  develop  it  to  greater  profit  than  the 
one  who  first  created  it.  It's  my  opinion.  Bob,  that  it's 
the  little  things  in  life  that  are  carefully  managed  that 
make  a  success  of  the  big  things." 

"  What  do  you  do  with  your  skim  milk,  Bob?  " 
asked  Mrs.  White. 

"  We  feed  that  to  the  calves,  and  what's  left  over 
to  the  pigs,  and  some  of  it  occasionally  to  the  chickens." 

"  Do  you  make  butter.  Bob?  "  asked  Mr.  White. 

"  We  used  to,"  said  Bob,  "  but  now  we  sell  all  our 
cream  to  the  creamery  and  buy  our  butter." 

"  What,  buy  your  own  butter?  " 

"  Yes,  Aunt  Bettie  says  it  pays  better  to  buy  but- 
ter from  those  who  make  it  in  a  big  way  than  try  to 
make  it  ourselves.  We  get  the  butter  when  we  deliver 
the  cream  and  in  that  way  we  don't  have  the  extra  work 
to  do.  Of  course,  we  could  make  our  own  butter,  and 
would  do  so  if  there  was  no  creamery,  but  the  money 
that  goes  for  a  pound  of  butter  is  less  than  we  get  for 
a  pound  of  butter  fat,  and  we  save  the  time  Aunt  Betty 
would  have  to  devote  to  it." 

Bob  now  opened  the  refrigerator  and  showed  them 
how  they  kept  their  eggs,  butter  and  fresh  meat. 

"  My,  what  a  nice-looking  lot  of  things  to  eat,"  said 
Mrs.  White  admiringly,  as  she  looked  into  the  white- 


192  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

enameled  refrigerator.  "See  the  crates  of  nice  white 
eggs  and  freshly-killed  poultry." 

"  Of  course,  we  aren't  killing  much  poultry  now," 
said  Bob.  "  We  won't  get  started  on  that  until  the  hen 
house  is  finished,  but  we're  killing  off  a  lot  of  the  com- 
mon chickens  to  get  rid  of  them.  They're  bringing 
thirty  cents  per  pound  now." 

"  We'll  wait  supper  till  you  get  your  shower  and 
change  your  clothes,  Bob,"  whispered  his  aunt,  as  the 
party  came  to  the  house  and  Bob  disappeared.  The 
favorable  comments  made  by  the  banker  and  his  wife 
on  his  work  raised  his  thoughts  above  the  level  of  mere 
clothes.  He  cared  not  that  his  ready-made  suit  com- 
pared rather  poorly  with  the  tailor-made  clothes  of 
their  boy  visitors.  He  decided  that  as  he  was  going 
tO'  be  a  farmer,  he  would  wear  the  kind  of  clothes  that 
belonged  to  farmers,  and  wouldn't  try  to  ape  others 
in  the  matter  of  dress. 

After  supper  was  over.  Bob  and  his  uncle,  with  the 
banker,  adjourned  to  the  sitting  room,  where  they  spent 
a  half  hour  in  going  over  their  system  of  cost-keeping. 

"  This  is  a  fine  system,  Joe,"  said  the  banker.  "  I'm 
glad  to  know  you're  taking  such  an  intelligent  interest 
in  your  farm." 

"  Well,  it  was  pretty  hard,  John,  for  me  at  first 
to  understand  keeping  accounts  and  all  that,  but  Bettie 
and  Bob  were  so  insistent  that  I  finally  made  up  my 
mind  that  I  was  going  to  learn  what  it  was  all  about. 
I  think  now  I've  a  pretty  fair  idea  how  to  tell  whether 


NEW  IVIETHODS  193 

a  thing's  paying  or  not ;  besides,  since  we  got  it  started 
it  don't  take  over  five  minutes  a  day.  Before  the  sum- 
mer is  over,  we'll  have  our  work  pretty  well  system- 
atized. I'm  beginning  already  to  find  out  that  a  lot 
of  things  we've  been  doing  on  this  farm  all  our  lives 
have  been  unprofitable  and  also  that  many  things  we've 
neglected  entirely  can  be  made  to  pay  a  good  profit." 

"  Nothing  like  figures,  Joe,  to  tell  you  where  you're 
at."  laughed  the  banker.  Next  thing  for  us  to  do, 
Joe,  is  to  see  that  w-e  get  our  farmers  all  awake  and  in 
line  for  a  new  concrete  road  to  town.  We  must  build 
that  road  this  summer.  I  want  you  to  be  able  to  haul 
your  produce  easily." 

When  Bob  returned  to  the  porch,  he  found  that 
the  boys  and  girls  had  gone  for  a  walk,  from  which 
they  did  not  return  until  the  banker  and  his  wife  were 
ready  to  leave.  It  did  not  add  to  his  pleasure  to  see 
the  easy  manner  in  which  they  walked  along,  arm  in 
arm,  on  their  return  to  the  house,  or  the  rather  overlong 
hand-shaking  when  they  finally  parted.  He  decided 
he  didn't  like  those  boys — especially  "  Eddie  "  Brown. 


18 


XVI 

RUTH   AND  JERRY 

"  I'm  goin'  to  start  planting  the  corn  this  morning, 
Bob,"  said  his  uncle  at  breakfast  on  Monday  morning. 
I  ought  to  get  the  ten-acre  field  finished  by  Wednesday 
evening.  As  soon  as  that  is  planted,  I  guess  I  had 
better  take  the  tractor  and  haul  out  some  more  cement. 
John  White  and  I  made  arrangements  on  Saturday, 
when  he  was  here,  to  go  ahead  with  the  rest  of  the 
buildings.  There'll  be  a  considerable  amount  of 
cement  required  for  these,  and  I  don't  want  to  stop 
planting  corn  to  bring  it  out,  and  after  that  you  know 
we'll  be  pretty  busy.  I  wish  you  would  figure  up  how 
many  barrels  of  cement  it  will  take  approximately  for 
each  of  the  buildings,  Bob;  also  the  rolls  of  galvanized 
wire  and  steel  bars  for  reinforcing  so  that  I  can  get 
these  ordered  at  the  same  time.  You'll  want  some 
window  frames  and  ventilators,  gratings  and  other 
things  for  the  cow  barn,  too.  I  think  you'd  better 
make  some  sketches  and  a  list  of  just  what  you  want. 
Then  we  can  get  bids,  and  see  where  we  can  buy  the 
cheapest.  You'd  better  get  some  catalogs,  too.  Bob,  on 
cow  stable  fittings,  such  as  stanchions,  sanitary  water 
bowls  and  manure  carriers.  Of  course,  we'll  want  to 
build  the  silo,  too,  at  the  same  time,  and  you  better 
make  a  list  of  the  materials  required  for  that.  You 
and  your  Aunt  Bettie  can  talk  over  the  details  and 
arrange  the  matter  between  you." 

194 


V 


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5     •    .■   ... 


RUTH  AND  JERRY  195 

"  All  right,  Uncle  Joe ;  we'll  take  care  of  it,"  said 
Bob,  "  and  have  the  list  ready  for  you  in  a  few  days. 
Of  course,  we  don't  want  to  knock  off  during  work- 
ing hours  to  make  up  this  list,  unless  we  have  to,  but 
when  it  comes  to  putting  on  the  roof  of  the  hen  house, 
Tony  can  carry  on  the  work  by  himself,  if  necessary, 
while  I  complete  the  drawings  of  the  cow  barn  and 
silo  and  figure  out  the  quantities." 

"  Don't  forget  that  I'm  here,"  said  Ruth,  "  and  I'm 
going  to  help  build  the  rest  of  the  buildings,  even 
though  I  did  hurt  my  thumb  the  first  time  I  tried.  I've 
been  practising  out  in  the  woodshed  and  I  can  hit  a 
nail  on  the  head  nearly  every  time  now." 

At  the  mention  of  her  nail-driving  ability,  Bob 
could  not  refrain  from  smiling. 

It  was  probably  nine-thirty  that  morning  when  Bob, 
busy  at  work  on  the  hen  house,  looked  up  and  saw 
Ruth  dressed  in  her  farmerette  clothes,  talking  with 
their  uncle  at  the  far  side  of  the  field  where  he  was 
planting  oats.  It  was  fully  an  hour  later  when  he 
looked  up  again  and  saw  Edith  standing  near  him.  At 
first  glance  she  seemed  abashed,  but  he  noticed  that  the 
corners  of  her  mouth  were  tucked  up  in  a  roguish 
laugh. 

"  Anything  happened,  Edith?  "  he  asked. 

"  Not  yet,  Bob,  but,"  she  replied  laughing,  "  there'll 
be  something  happen  to  Ruth  in  a  few  minutes,  if  you 
don't  come  and  rescue  her." 

"  Why,  where  is  she?  " 


196  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  Come,  and  I'll  show  you,"  said  Edith,  and  Bob 
turned  tlie  concrete  mixer  over  to  Tony  and  they  went 
over  to  the  old  orchard,  back  of  the  smokehouse. 

In  almost  the  exact  center  of  this  three-acre  plot, 
a  tree  had  decayed  and  fallen  several  years  before,  and 
a  young  apple  tree  had  been  planted  to  take  its  place. 
This  tree  was  now  about  five  inches  in  diameter,  and 
forked  about  five  to  six  feet  from  the  ground.  In  the 
crotch  of  this  small  tree,  a  foot  dangling  on  either  side, 
sat  Ruth,  balancing  herself  as  best  she  could  while 
Jerry,  the  new  Southdown  buck,  was  prancing  back 
and  forth,  jumping  alternately  at  one  foot,  then  at  the 
other,  as  she  let  them  hang  down  within  his  reach. 

"How  did  she  get  up  there?"  asked  Bob,  as  he 
took  in  the  situation. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Edith,  "  but  she  must  have 
been  up  there  a  long  time,  because  I've  been  hearing  her 
shouting  for  at  least  a  half  hour,  but  I  thought  she  was 
with  you  and  Tony  working  on  the  hen  house.'' 

"  Oh,  Bob,  come  over  here  and  drive  Jerry  away," 
cried  RutiPi,  hearing  them.  "  I've  been  sitting  in  this 
apple  tree  holding  up  my  feet  until  they're  ready  to 
drop  off." 

"  How  did  you  happen  to  get  up  there,  Ruth  ?  " 
called  Edith  laughing,  while  she  and  Bob  stood  outside 
the  fence  enjoying  the  situation  and  watching  Jerry- 
jump  time  and  again  for  a  dangling  foot. 

*'  I  went  up  to  see  Uncle  Joe — say,  aren't  you  going 
to  help  me,  Bob? — ^and  was  taking  a  short  cut  through 


RUTH  AND  JERRY  197 

the  orchard  and  forgot  all  about  Jerry — confound  that 
sheep,"  drawing  a  foot  up  just  in  time — "  when  I  saw 
him  I  started  to  run,  and  he  ran  after  me.  This  was 
the  only  tree  small  enough  for  me  to  climb,  so  I  got  up 
here  and  Jerry  has  been  keeping  guard  ever  since. 
Whenever  I  let  a  foot  dangle  down  he  strikes  at  it. 
Come  on,  and  drive  him  away.  Bob.  I'm  so  tired  I 
can  scarcely  keep  from  falling." 

"  All  right,"  laughed  Bob,  '^  I'll  get  him  away," 
and  vaulting  the  fence  he  ran  over  to  where  Jerry- 
was  standing,  took  him  by  the  wool  on  the  back  of  his 
neck  and  held  him  with  one  hand. 

"  Now,  slide  down,  Ruth — he  won't  hurt  you.  All 
he  wanted  was  someone  to  pet  him." 

"  I  tell  you  he's  cross,  Bob.  He  would  have  butted 
me  if  1  hadn't  got  up  into  the  tree." 

"  He  was  only  trying  to  play  with  you,  Ruth. 
Now,  come  down  and  I'll  prove  you're  wrong." 

But  no  sooner  had  Ruth  placed  her  cramped  feet 
on  the  ground  than  Jerry  broke  loose,  and  with  head 
down,  went  charging  after  her,  as,  letting  out  a  scream, 
she  dashed  for  the  house  as  fast;  as  she  could  go.  The 
gate,  opening  into  the  yard  by  the  smokehouse,  was 
too  far  away,  so  she  changed  her  course  and  headed 
for  the  fence  between  the  orchard  and  hen  house,  near 
the  spot  where  Edith  was  standing.  She  had  placed 
her  right  foot  on  the  second  board  of  the  fence  just 
ready  to  jump,  when  Jerry  arrived  just  in  time  to  take 
advantage  of  the  opportunity  presented.     With  one 


198  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

strong  butt  he  hoisted  her  clear  of  the  fence,  landing  her 
on  all  fours  on  the  soft,  plowed  ground  on  the  other 
side.  She  jumped  up  quickly,  spitting  out  a  mouthful 
of  the  soft  earth  she  had  scooped  up.  Bob  and  Edith 
were  doubled  up  with  laughter. 

"  Oh,  you  two  probably  think  it's  very  funny," 
snapped  Ruth,  "sitting  up  in  an  apple  tree  for  a  half 
hour,  with  Jerry  trying  to  knock  your  feet  off  every 
time  you  let  them  hang  down,  to  say  nothing  of  his 
butting  me  over  the  fence.  Well,  laugh  if  you  want 
to,  but  it's  not  so  funny  if  you're  it." 

"  Perhaps  you'd  better  come  into  the  house,  Ruth, 
and  get  rested,"  suggested  Edith,  "  or  maybe  you'd  like 
to  help  Aunt  Bettie  plant  the  garden." 

"  You  help  her  yourself,  if  you  want  to;  I'm  going 
to  help  Bob  and  Tony  build  the  hen  house,"  she 
declared  suddenly.  "  I  was  coming  over  to  help  you, 
Bob,  when  Jerry  treed  me  in  the  orchard,  and  if  it 
hadn't  been  for  him,  I  would  have  been  there  an  hour 
ago. 

"  All  right,"  laughed  Bob;  "  I'll  be  glad  to  have  you 
help  me  now,  Ruth,"  and  he  helped  brush  the  dirt 
from  her  clothes.  Edith  caught  a  merry  twinkle  in 
his  eye,  as  they  left  her  to  go  back  to  the  concrete 
mixer. 

"  What  can  I  do  to  help,  Bob?"  asked  Ruth,  when 
they  arrived  at  the  work. 

"  I  think  I'll  let  you  be  the  engineer,  Ruth,  and  run 
the  mixer.  That's  an  important  job,"  he  added,  wink- 
ing at  Tony. 


RUTH  AND  JERRY  199 

He  instructed  her  how  to  start  and  stop  the  engine, 
and  which  levers  to  use  in  filHng  and  emptying  the 
drum.  She  was  still  busy  with  the  mixer  when  the 
dinner  bell  rang. 

"  I'd  like  to  get  a  turtle,  Uncle  Joe,"  said  Ruth  at 
dinner.     "  How  can  I  catch  one?  " 

"  Get  Bob  to  shoot  a  ground  squirrel  for  you  and 
bait  a  couple  of  hooks;  then  set  some  lines  in  the  new 
pond.    Perhaps  you  can  catch  one  that  way." 

"  Is  that  what  you  bait  turtle  hooks  with?  "  asked 
Ruth. 

"  Ground  squirrels  make  the  best  kind  of  bait,"  said 
her  uncle.  "If  there  are  turtles  in  the  pond,  you'll  get 
one  of  them  with  that." 

"  Let  me  shoot  the  squirrel  myself,  Uncle  Joe," 
said  Ruth. 

"  I  won't  have  time  to  go  hunting  squirrels  this 
afternoon,  but  perhaps  you  and  Bob  might  be  able  to 
find  one  on  the  fence  down  back  of  the  barn.  You  can 
take  my  shotgun,  Ruth,  but  be  careful  that  you  don't 
shoot  yourself  instead  of  the  squirrel." 

"  Oh,  I  know  how  to  shoot,  Uncle  Joe;  don't 
worry,"  she  declared. 

"  Let's  go  as  soon  as  we  get  our  dinner.  Bob,"  she 
said  enthusiastically. 

When  they  had  finished,  Bob  got  two  turtle  lines 
and  hooks  from  the  woodshed  and  the  double-barrel 
gun  and  four  shells.  They  went  down  along  the  fence 
back  of  the  barn  toward  the  pond.     When  they  were 


200  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

almost  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  near  a  chestnut  tree,  they 
saw  a  ground  squirrel  sitting  on  the  top  of  a  fence 
post. 

Bob  handed  the  gun  to  Ruth  and  explained  to  her 
how  to  operate  it,  and  much  to  his  surprise  and  admira- 
tion, she  quickly  raised  the  gun  to  her  shoulder  and 
fired — the  squirrel  tumbling  off  the  fence. 

"  How  did  you  happen  to  do  that?  "  he  asked,  lost 
in  admiration,  for  it  was  a  neat  shot. 

"  Throw  your  hat  up  in  the  air  and  I'll  show  you," 
she  said. 

As  he  hesitated,  she  asked. 

"  You're  not  afraid  I'll  hit  it,  are  you,  Bob?  " 

"  No,  I'm  not,"  said  Bob,  and  with  that  he  threw 
his  straw  hat  high  into  the  air  and  it  came  down  with 
a  nick  in  the  brim  and  two  holes  in  the  crown. 

"Where  did  you  learn  to  shoot,  Ruth?"  he 
demanded,  looking  at  his  damaged  hat. 

"  Oh,  I  learned  that  long  ago,"  she  replied,  pleased 
that  at  last  she  had  won  his  genuine  admiration.  "  I've 
two  medals  for  shooting.  My  brothers  are  both  crack 
shots  and  they  taught  me.  I  usually  shoot  with  a  rifle, 
however." 

"  That's  fine  shooting,"  said  Bob.  "I  couldn't  do 
nearly  as  well  as  that  myself,"  he  admitted  grudgingly. 

"  Now,  show  me  how  to  bait  the  hook,"  she  said, 
picking  up  the  squirrel.  Bob  took  it  and  showed  her 
how  to  prepare  and  put  it  on  the  hook. 

They  then  went  along  the  pond  until  they  came  to 


RUTH  AND  JERRY  201 

some  small  thorn  bushes  that  grew  on  the  bank.  Bob 
showed  her  how  to  cast  the  bait  by  whirling  it  round 
and  round  and  then  let  it  fly  out  into  the  water.  She 
tried  several  times  until  she  got  the  knack  of  doing  it, 
then  threw  in  both  linej  and  tied  them  fast  to  the 
thorn  bushes. 

"  How  long'll  I  have  to  wait  before  I  catch  a  turtle, 
Bob?  "  she  asked,  as  they  started  for  the  house. 

"  Maybe  an  hour  and  maybe  not  till  to-morrow 
morning,  and  maybe  as  long  as  a  day  or  two — it  just 
depends,"  he  replied. 

About  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  he  noticed 
that  Ruth,  who  had  gotten  tired  running  the  mixer, 
had  gone  to  the  house.  A  little  later  he  saw  her  with 
Edith  passing  through  the  barnyard  in  the  direction 
of  the  pond. 

It  was  perhaps  a  half  hour  later  when  he  heard 
shouts  in  the  direction  of  the  pond  axid  someone  calling 
his  name.  He  dropped  his  tools  and  rushed  across 
the  plowed  field,  when  he  saw  Edith  hurrying  toward 
him  as  fast  as  she  could  walk  over  the  newly-plowed 
ground.  She  was  waving  her  hand  to  him,  motioning 
him  to  hurry. 

"What's  happened  to  Ruth  now?"  he  asked 
breathlessly,  catching  up  to  her. 

"  It  isn't  Ruth  this  time,"  she  replied.  "  It's  Dun- 
can Wallace  " 

"Why,  what's  the  matter  with  him?"  he  asked 
eagerly,  surprised  that  the  staid  old  Scotchman  should 
have  gotten  into  trouble. 


202  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  Well,  it  was  this  way,"  said  Edith,  between 
breaths,  as  they  started  in  the  direction  of  the  sand  pit, 
"  when  Ruth  and  I  went  down  to  the  pond  the  first  line 
we  pulled  out  had  a  turtle  on  it,  and  while  I  held  it 
by  the  tail,  Ruth  took  a  forked  stick  and  pried  the 
hook  out  of  its  mouth;  then  she  thought  it'd  be  good 
sport  to  take  it  down  and  show  it  to  Duncan  Wallace, 
and  when  she  got  near  she  held  it  up  by  the  tail  and 
showed  it  to  him. 

"'What's  that  you  have  there  Mister — Miss — ?' 

"  *  A  turtle,  Mr,  Wallace,'  said  Ruth,  laughing  over 
the  fact  that  he  did  not  know  whether  she  was  a  boy 
or  a  girl. 

"  '  Oh,  a  turtle,  is  it?  Well,  let  me  see  it.'  Then 
he  took  the  turtle  from  her,  Bob,  and  laid  it  on  the 
shovel  he  was  using  tO'  screen  sand.  He  held  the  shovel 
so  that  the  turtle's  head  was  not  very  far  from  and  on 
a  level  with  his  face.  Then,  much  to  my  disgust,  he 
began  spitting  tobacco  juice  in  the  turtle's  eyes,  forc- 
ing it  to  draw  its  head  into  the  shell.  It  didn't  seem 
to  like  it  very  much,  for  all  of  a  sudden  it  reached 
out  its  head  and  grabbed  Duncan  Wallace  by  the  nose, 
and,  oh,  Bob,  you  should  have  seen  him  dance  and 
heard  him  swear;  he  swore  something  terrible."  she 
said  laughing  heartily.  "  It  was  the  funniest  thing, 
Bob,  I  ever  saw  in  my  life — neither  Ruth's  ride  on  the 
cow  the  other  day  nor  her  experience  with  Jerry  this 
morning  could  compare  with  the  way  that  old  Scotch- 
man hopped  around,  waving  his  shovel  in  one  hand, 


RUTH  AND  JERRY  203 

the  turtle  dangling  from  his  nose,  and  swearing  like  a 
pirate." 

"Well,  how  did  you  get  the  turtle  off?"  asked 
Bob,  laughing  in  spite  of  his  fears  for  the  Scotch- 
man's safety. 

"  We  didn't  get  it  off,"  said  Edith ;  "  that's  why 
we  got  you  here.  Ruth  tried  to  shake  it  off,  but  his 
nose  bled  terribly.  He  was  sitting  on  a  pile  of  sand 
holding  on  to  the  turtle  when  I  left,"  she  replied. 

When  they  reached  the  pit  they  found  that  the  des- 
perate Scotchman,  in  his  struggling  to  free  himself 
from  the  turtle,  had  pulled  a  large  piece  out  of  the 
end  of  his  nose.  Ruth,  after  first  putting  her  turtle 
in  a  water  barrel,  was  doing  her  best  to  stop  the  flow 
of  blood  and  comfort  the  still  swearing  Scotchman, 
whose  feelings  were  becoming  more  aggravated  each 
minute  by  Ruth's  uproarious  laughter. 

"  If  a  girl  comes  around  here  again  dressed  up  in 
boy's  clothes,  carrying  a  turtle,  I'll  throw  them  both 
into  the  pond  and  drown  them,"  he  declared  savagely, 
as  he  got  up  from  the  sand  pile  and  started  for  his 
home.  When  he  had  disappeared,  Bob  and  the  two 
girls  sat  down  on  the  sand  pile  and  laughed  until 
they  cried. 


XVII 

FILLING  THE  INCUBATOR 

Shortly  after  the  new  stock  had  been  deHvered  at 
Brookside  Farm,  Bob  and  his  aunt  put  the  new  Leg- 
horn chickens  in  the  old  sheep  shed  back  of  the  barn, 
and  the  white  Plymouth  Rocks  in  a  small  pen  near  the 
cider  mill,  so  as  to  keep  the  two  flocks  apart.  They 
saved  all  the  eggs  from  each  flock  and  as  fast  as  the 
common  hens  on  the  farm  showed  a  disposition  to  set, 
the  eggs  were  supplied  to  them,  until  the  incubator 
house  was  finished. 

The  incubator  was  a  modern  machine  of  five  hun- 
dred egg  capacity.  After  a  conference,  they  decided 
to  send  to  two  well-known  poultry  farms  specializing 
in  white  Leghorns  and  white  Plymouth  Rocks  for 
additional  settings  of  eggs,  in  order  to  have  new  blood 
for  the  next  year.  They  got  fifty  eggs  of  each  breed 
from  the  two  breeders,  making  two  hundred  eggs  in  all, 
and  took  three  hundred  eggs  from  their  own  stock.  A 
careful  record  of  the  different  eggs  was  made,  so  they 
could  keep  the  chicks  separate  after  they  were  hatched. 

Before  the  eggs  arrived,  the  incubator  was  cleaned 
and  tested. 

"  Won't  you  let  me  help  you  with  the  eggs,  Bob?  " 
asked  Edith,  as  he  was  getting  ready  to  place  the  eggs 
in  the  incubator.    "I've  been  reading  a  lot  in  the  bulle- 

204 


FILLING  THE  INCUBATOR  W5 

tins  about  chickens,  and  I  would  like  to  help  you  look 
after  them." 

"  I  don't  think  it  would  be  such  a  hard  job,  Edith," 
he  replied,  "if  you  understand  how  to  regulate  the  heat 
and  keep  the  eggs  turned.  Of  course,  it  will  be  neces- 
sar}^  to  look  after  them  carefully." 

"  I  already  know  how  to  regulate  the  temperature, 
and  turn  and  cool  the  eggs." 

"  Do  you  know  how  to  test  them?  "  asked  Bob,  "  to 
tell  which  eggs  are  fertile?  " 

**  Yes,"  replied  Edith,  "  that's  easily  done.  You 
can  use  a  candle  and  an  old  shoe  box  by  removing  one 
end  and  cutting  a  hole  a  little  larger  than  the  size  of 
a  quarter  in  the  bottom  of  the  box,  located  so  that  when 
it  sets  over  the  kerosene  lamp,  the  hole  in  the  bottom 
will  be  opposite  the  flame.  Of  course,  you'll  have  to 
cut  another  hole  in  the  box,  so  that  the  heat  will  escaj>e, 
and  the  eggs  are  tested  with  the  large  ends  up.  This 
is  done  so  the  size  of  the  air  cell  may  be  seen,  as  well 
as  the  condition  of  the  embryo." 

"  How  do  you  tell  when  an  egg  is  fertile  ?  "  asked 
Bob. 

"  That's  easy,"  said  Edith.  "  The  infertile  eggs, 
when  held  before  the  small  hole  when  the  lamp  is 
lighted  inside  the  box,  will  look  perfectly  clear,  same 
as  a  fresh  one,  while  the  fertile  ones  will  show  a  small 
dark  spot,  which  is  known  as  the  embryo.  Of  course, 
you  have  to  learn  to  tell  whether  the  embryo  is  living 
or  dead,  but  that's  easy  to  learn." 


206  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  I  think  I  could  take  care  of  an  incubator  all  right," 
she  continued,  "  The  first  thing  you  do  is  to  see  if  it  is 
runuing  steadily  at  the  desired  temperature  before 
filling  it  with  eggs;  then  you  must  fill  the  whole  tray 
at  one  time  and  not  add  fresh  eggs  to  a  tray  after  it's 
once  started.  The  eggs  must  be  turned  twice  daily 
after  the  second  and  until  the  nineteenth  day.  The 
eggs  must  also  be  cooled  once  daily  from  the  seventh 
to  the  nineteenth  day,  depending  on  the  weather." 

"  Do  you  fix  the  lamps  first,  Edith,  or  turn  the 
eggs  ?  "  asked  Bob. 

"  Oh,  you  must  turn  the  eggs  before  you  fix  the 
lamps,"  she  replied,  "  and,  of  course,  the  machine  must 
be  cared  for  at  regular  hours,  just  the  same  as  your 
dairy  cows,  and  the  lamp  and  the  wick  must  be  kept 
clean  at  all  times — otherwise  you  would  not  get  a 
uniform  heat." 

"  When  do  you  test  the  eggs?  "  asked  Bob. 

"  On  the  seventh  and  fourteenth  days ;  after  the 
eighteenth  day  you  must  not  open  the  machine  until 
the  chicks  are  hatched." 

"If  you'll  look  after  the  incubator  for  us,  Edith, 
it'll  save  me  a  lot  of  time — ^particularly  now  when  we 
want  to  start  work  on  the  new  cow  bam." 

"  Will  you  let  me  run  it  all  myself.  Bob?  "  she 
asked,  her  eyes  sparkling  in  anticipation. 

"  I  don't  see  why  you  can't  do  it  all  yourself.  You 
understand  it  just  as  well  as  I  do;  besides,  I've  had 
no  actual  experience  myself." 


FILLING  THE  INCUBATOR  207 

They  carefully  filled  the  incubator  with  the  eggs, 
making  a  record  in  a  special  book  of  the  different 
breeds  and  the  different  breeders. 

"  How  are  you  going  to  mark  them,  Bob,  to  tell 
them  apart  ?  "  asked  Edith. 

"  Oh,  that's  easy,"  said  Bob.  "  You  punch  small 
holes  between  their  toes  and  make  a  code  of  the  marks, 
so  you  can  tell  which  is  which. 

"You  can  make  ever  so  many  combinations." 

"  Doesn't  that  hurt  them?  "  asked  Edith. 

"  No,  not  if  it's  done  when  they  are  very  young — 
though  the  hole  is  a  very  small  one,  it  never  closes  up, 
and  you  can  always  tell,  by  referring  to  your  code, 
the  age  and  breed  of  each  chick.  Later,  of  course, 
when  they  grow  up,  we'll  put  numbered  aluminum 
bands  on  their  legs,  but  when  they're  small  the  holes 
are  better. 

"  Just  think.  Bob,  five  hundred  little  chicks  for  me 
to  look  after.    Won't  it  be  perfectly  splendid  ?  " 

'*  You  won't  get  five  hundred,  Edith.  If  we  get 
sixty  to  seventy  per  cent,  hatched,  it  will  be  as  much  as 
we  can  expect.  L^nless,  of  course,  we  have  especially 
good  luck  and  you  might  get  as  high  as  eighty  or  ninety 
per  cent." 

"  What  will  we  do  with  the  eggs  that  are  not 
fertile?  "  she  asked. 

"  Oh,  we'll  boil  those  and  feed  them  to  the  young 
chicks  after  they're  hatched;  they  make  good  chicken 
feed." 


208  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  How  many  of  the  chicks  do  you  suppose  we  can 
raise  in  the  brooder?  " 

"  If  we  hatch  300  to  400  out  of  the  500  eggs,  we'll 
be  doing  fine,  and  if  we  can  raise  sixty  per  cent,  of  the 
full  hatch,  it's  considered  very  good.  Of  course,  con- 
siderable will  depend  on  the  way  they're  fed  and  cared 
for,  but  with  good  care,  you  ought  to  average  that 
many.  We'll  have  to  raise  these  in  one  of  the  new 
pens  we've  just  built  for  the  laying  hens,  because  our 
brooder  house  will  be  one  of  the  last  buildings  we'll 
put  up,  and  we  may  not  get  it  ready  until  late  fall. 
When  the  chicks  are  large  enough,  you  can  put  them 
in  colony  houses  out  in  the  orchard." 

"  I  hope  we  can  raise  more  than  sixty  per  cent., 
Bob.  Won't  it  be  fine  to  have  so  many  chicks?  When 
we  get  these  hatched,  are  we  going  to  hatch  more?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  Bob,  "  Aunt  Bettie  thinks  we  should 
hatch  at  least  1000  to  1500  eggs  in  order  to  have  a  good 
pen  of  layers  this  fall.  Of  course,  you  know  half  the 
chicks  will  be  roosters,  and  these  we  will  dispose  of. 
The  white  Plymouth  Rocks  we  can  caponize  and  easily 
sell,  and  the  white  Leghorns  we  will  either  have  to  kill 
and  sell  as  broilers,  or  it  may  be  we  can  sell  them 
to  the  farmers  around  here  to  improve  their  flocks.  So 
you  see,  if  we  have  1000  chicks,  we  can't  count  on 
over  500  hens." 

"  What  would  you  do,  Bob,  if  you  had  1000  hens?  " 
asked  Edith. 

"  Don't  you  remember  the  hen  house  is  made  so 


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FILLING  THE  INCUBATOR  209 

it  may  be  extended  ?  Of  course,  by  the  end  of  the  sum- 
mer, when  the  chicks  have  grown  up,  Mr.  Brady  will 
have  taken  so  much  sand  from  the  pit  that  Uncle  Joe 
will  be  willing  that  we  should  go  ahead  and  complete 
our  buildings,  and  one  person  can  care  for  looo  hens 
almost  as  easy  as  500.  A  1000  hen  flock  is  about  the 
right  size.  Aunt  Bettie  and  I  didn't  exactly  deceive 
Uncle  Joe,  but  we  thought  we'd  educate  him  a  little  at 
a  time." 

"  I  heard  him  tell  Aunt  Bettie  the  other  day  he 
was  going  to  let  her  have  all  the  money  that  they  made 
from  the  dairy  and  poultry,"  said  Edith. 

"  Well,  if  he  does,"  said  Bob,  "  Aunt  Bettie  will 
make  a  lot  of  money — almost  as  much  as  Uncle  Joe, 
outside  of  the  sand  pit." 

''  How  would  that  be,  Bob?  " 

*'  Because  it  is  possible  to  make  very  big  profits  in 
these  if  they're  properly  looked  after,"  said  Bob;  "  but 
of  course,  the  chickens  will  have  to  pay  rent  for  the 
houses,  based  on  their  cost  and  use  of  the  land  they 
occupy — the  same  as  cows  do  for  their  stable  and 
pasture,  and  all  the  labor  and  feed  Uncle  Joe  supplies 
will  be  charged  up  against  them.  I've  been  reading  the 
story  of  a  successful  poultry  and  dairy  farm  in  one  of 
the  bulletins.  They  kept  twenty  cows,  the  same  as 
Aunt  Bettie  is  planning  to  do,  and  it  stated  that  in  addi- 
tion to  the  milk,  cream  and  butter  used  by  the  family, 
they  sold  almost  $2400  worth  of  butter,  and  they  got 
almost  as  much  more  from  their  poultry.    The  bulletin 

14 


210  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

didn't  say,  of  course,  how  much  it  cost  to  produce  it, 
but  with  our  system  of  cost-keeping  where  we  charge  up 
labor,  feed  and  rent  and  credit  them  for  whatever  they 
produce,  we'll  be  able  to  tell  almost  to  a  cent  just  what 
they  earn." 

"  Won't  you  let  me  keep  the  cost-accounting  sys- 
tem for  the  chickens.  Bob?  "  asked  Edith.  "  I'm  sure 
I'd  like  very  much  to  look  after  them  all  myself.  I 
think  that  farming,  if  done  intelligently,  is  the  most 
interesting  business  that  one  can  engage  in." 

They  were  standing  on  opposite  sides  of  the  incu- 
bator, and  Edith  was  handing  Bob  an  egg  as  she  made 
this  remark.  Bob's  hand  closed  over  the  egg  and 
fingers  that  encircled  it.  He  held  it  for  a  moment, 
while  he  looked  into  her  eyes ;  then,  as  she  blushingly 
withdrew  her  hand,  he  stammered : 

"  I'm  glad,  Edith,  you  like  farming  the  same  as 
I  do." 

"  Well,  it  is  interesting,  Bob,  and  I  do  like  it," 
she  said,  looking  at  him  shyly. 

"  What  are  you  two  doing  in  here  with  all  those 
eggs?"  asked  Ruth,  bursting  suddenly  in  upon  them. 
"  One  would  think  you  were  in  church,  you're  so  quiet." 

"  Why,  we're  going  to  raise  chickens  by  machin- 
ery," explained  Bob. 

"Do  you  have  a  motor  to  run  it?"  she  asked. 
"  How  do  you  make  it  go,  Bob?  It  must  be  terribly 
hot  in  here,"  she  added,  looking  at  them  questioningly. 

"Why?"  asked  her  cousin,  without  looking  up 
from  the  tray  of  eggs  she  was  filling. 


FILLING  THE  INCUBATOR  211 

"  Why,  Bob's  so  red  in  the  face.  I  never  saw  his 
face  so  red  before,  except  the  time  he  ran  down  to  the 
pond  to  take  the  turtle  off  Duncan  Wallace's  nose." 

"  You  must  have  the  room  warm  where  you  keep 
the  incubator,"  said  Edith  evasively. 

"  Let  me  put  the  eggs  in,  Edith,"  said  Ruth,  "  I 
know  how  to  do  things  like  this,"  as  she  began  mixing 
the  Leghorns  and  Plymouth  Rocks  together. 

*'  Oh,  don't  do  that,  Ruth ;  we  must  keep  them  all 
separate.  We  write  the  names  and  dates  on  them 
and  make  all  kinds  of  records,  so  we'll  know  the  chicks 
when  they're  hatched." 

"  How  can  you  tell  from  an  old  egg  what  kind  of 
a  chick  you'll  get.  How  do  you  know  you  won't  get 
black  chickens  out  of  white  eggs." 

"  Maybe  we  will,"  laughed  Bob.  "  An3^hing  is 
liable  to  happen  on  a  farm  where  you  get  girls  off  apple 
trees  and  turtles  off  Scotchmen's  noses." 

"  Pretty  near  ready  for  dinner?  "  called  her  aunt, 
looking  in  for  a  moment  as  they  completed  the  work 
of  filling  the  incubator. 

"  We've  just  finished,"  said  Edith.  "  Bob  said  I 
might  take  care  of  the  incubator  and  keep  the  record 
of  the  chicks,  if  you  were  willing.  Aunt  Bettie." 

"  Yes,  Edith,  I'd  be  only  too  glad  to  have  you  do 
it,"  replied  her  aunt. 

"  Thank  you,  Aunt  Bettie.  T  like  farming  better 
every  day,"  and  she  gave  Bob  a  shy  glance,  as  he  closed 
the  door  of  the  new  incubator  house. 


XVIII 

THE   NEW   IMPLEMENTS 

When  Joe  Williams  purchased  Brookside  Farm 
from  his  father,  the  equipment  of  farm  implements 
which  his  father  turned  over  to  him  was  meager; 
indeed,  the  few  that  answered  the  name  of  implements 
were  so  old  and  had  been  so  badly  neglected,  by  being 
exposed  to  all  kinds  of  weather,  they  were  practically 
useless. 

After  a  conference  with  John  White,  the  banker, 
Joe  Williams  sent  for  Mr.  Patterson,  the  representa- 
tive of  the  Farmers'  Harvester  Company.  The  three 
spent  a  half  day  together  going  carefully  over  their 
full  line  of  farm  implements,  selecting  from  the  list 
such  new  machines  as  they  felt  were  best  suited  to  their 
requirements. 

A  tractor,  disk  and  harrow  had  already  been  deliv- 
ered to  the  farm,  and  left  there  after  the  spring  plow- 
ing, but  no  arrangements  for  the  purchase  of  them  had 
yet  been  made.  After  having  seen  the  advantage  of 
these  implements,  and  heard  'them  favorably  com- 
mented upon  by  his  neighbors,  Joe  Williams  decided 
they  must  remain  at  Brookside. 

He  now  selected  a  new  riding  corn  planter,  one  not 
only  capable  of  planting  com  in  rows,  but  also  in  hills, 
and  as  a  companion  to  this  machine,  he  selected  a  horse- 

212 


THE  NEW  IMPLEMENTS  213 

drawn  cultivator.  After  considerable  discussion,  he 
decided  to  purchase  a  side  delivery  hay  rake  and  a 
windrow  loader,  chiefly  on  account  of  the  speed  with 
w^hich  hay  could  be  gotten  in  with  this  combination. 
He  could  then  leave  his  hay  out  until  it  was  just  right 
and  get  it  in  quickly  ahead  of  storms.  With  these  two 
machines,  he  also  bought  the  latest  improved  mowing 
machine.  Then  he  picked  out  a  substantial  reaper  and 
binder.  The  erection  of  the  new  silo  made  it  necessary 
to  select  machinery  for  filling  it,  and  a  corn  binder, 
with  a  bundle  elevator,  was  finally  selected  on  account 
of  the  saving  in  labor.  A  blower  type  ensilage  cutter 
with  the  necessary  pipe  for  filling  the  silo  and  leather 
belt  for  driving  it  by  the  tractor,  were  selected.  Then 
a  new  grain  drill  with  fertilizer  and  grass-seed  attach- 
ments was  added. 

"  I  guess  that's  about  as  many  implements  as  I 
can  afford  to  buy  at  one  time,"  remarked  Joe  Williams. 

"Now,  look  here,  Joe,"  said  John  White;  "why 
do  a  thing  half?  You  know  you'll  be  short  a  number 
of  things  if  you  stop  here ;  besides,  you've  left  out  a  lot 
of  low-cost  tools  that  you  ought  to  have  to  make  a 
complete  equipment." 

"Why,  what  more  do  I  need?"  asked  Joe,  sur- 
prised at  the  banker's  statement. 

"  Well,  for  one  thing,  you  ought  to  have  a  first- 
class  manure  spreader;  it  will  do  the  work  much 
quicker,  and  save  you  many  backaches — now  that 
you've  decided  to  fertilize  heavily.     Then  you  should 


214  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

have  a  good  power-driven  corn  sheller  and  a  small  mill 
for  grinding  corn  meal  and  buckwheat  flour.  You  also 
ought  to  have  a  one  and  a  half  horsepower  kerosene 
engine,  mounted  on  a  portable  hand  truck." 

"  What  would  that  be  for?  "  asked  Joe  Williams, 
looking  up. 

"  Well,  you'll  have  a  lot  of  places  to  use  it — such  as 
running  the  washing  machine,  turning  the  grindstone, 
corn  sheller,  or  the  cream  separator,  if  the  electric  sys- 
tem breaks  down,  and  other  small  jobs  around  the 
farm,  where  a  portable  engine  will  be  very  handy  to 
save  work  and  increase  speed." 

"  We'll  have  the  engines  on  the  tractor  that  we 
can  use,"  protested  Williams. 

"  That's  all  right,  Joe,"  said  the  banker,  "  but  it's 
too  heavy  for  many  of  the  light  jobs,  and  it  would 
not  pay  to  consume  the  amount  of  kerosene  and  oil 
necessary  to  operate  it,  so  I  think  you  had  better 
include  the  engine." 

"  All  right,"  said  Joe.  "  Let's  have  it  then  along 
with  the  others." 

"  What  about  your  electric  lighting  plant,  Joe,  with 
the  new  buildings  coming  along?  You  ought  to  look 
out  for  that." 

"  Bettie  and  Bob  have  been  looking  up  a  lot  of 
data  on  that  subject  and  they've  decided  on  putting  in  a 
water-driving  unit.  It  requires  more  wire  to  bring  the 
power  up  from  the  dam,  but  in  the  end  will  be  cheaper 
as  it  costs  nothing  to  operate." 


THE  NEW  IMPLEMENTS  215 

"  How  many  electric  lights  do  you  want  to  use?  " 
asked  Mr.  Patterson. 

''  We've  figured  that  we  ought  to  have  about  one 
hundred  'sixty-watt  lamp  capacity  for  the  complete 
farm;  that  would  take  care  of  the  small  motor  of  the 
vacuum  cleaner  and  sewing  machine." 

"We  don't  make  the  outfit,  Mr.  Williams,"  said 
the  agent,  "  bait  I'll  arrange  to  get  a  good  one  for  you 
and  will  not  charge  you  any  commission  on  it — taking 
such  a  large  order  as  you  are  giving  me,  I'll  be  very 
glad  to  arrange  this  for  you." 

"  Well,  here's  a  catalog  of  the  make  they  have 
picked  out  and  if  you'll  take  it  up  with  the  manufac- 
turers, I'll  appreciate  it,"  said  Williams.  "  We'll  want 
a  detail  drawing  showing  how  to  make  a  foundation 
for  the  wheel  and  generator.  Bob's  worked  out  an 
automatic  starting  and  stopping  device.  The  wiring, 
of  course,  we'll  do  ourselves." 

"  How  about  an  auto  truck,  Joe ;  don't  you  think 
you  ought  to  have  a  good  auto  truck  on  the  farm  ?  " 

"  Not  with  a  team  of  horses  and  a  good  live  tractor. 
Of  course,  an  auto  truck  would  be  an  advantage  in  some 
respects,  and  I'll  probably  want  one  next  year,  but  I 
think  we  can  get  along  without  that  for  the  present. 
Speaking  of  making  a  complete  outfit,  Mr.  White,  Bet- 
tie  gave  me  a  list  of  some  other  things  she  wanted." 

"  What  are  they?  "  asked  the  banker. 

"  Well,  for  one  thing,  she  thinks  we  ought  to  tear 
down  the  old  cider  mill  because  it's  too  slow  to  operate. 


216  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

In  former  years,  when  labor  was  cheap,  it  answered 
very  well,  but  the  modern  machines  are  much  quicker 
and  better." 

"  I  think  you  ought  to  have  that,  Joe,"  said  the 
banker.  "  Have  you  thought  of  a  power  saw  for  the 
wood  lot  and  cutting  up  the  rails  of  your  old  fences? 
That's  a  '  Hidden  Treasure  '  that  you  and  Bob  have 
probably  overlooked." 

"  There's  where  you're  wrong,  John,"  laughed  Wil- 
liams. "  I've  overlooked  it  entirely,  I'll  confess,  but  not 
Bob.  He's  figured  out  already  how  many  cords  of 
wood  we'll  get  out  of  those  old  rails." 

"  I  tell  you,  Patterson,"  said  the  banker  smiling, 
'*  there's  a  boy  who's  going  to  make  things  pay,  I've 
plans  for  him  myself  that  I'm  not  saying  anything 
about.  I  don't  want  to  take  him  away  from  you,  Joe, 
but  he's  growing  up  and  some  day  he's  going  to  have  a 
farm  of  his  own.  If  you  get  two  years'  work  out  of 
him  at  the  rate  he's  going,  I  don't  think  you'll  have 
any  complaint  to  make  though.  By  the  way,  how  about 
a  power  washing-machine  and  mangle  for  the  laundry  ? 
Don't  you  think  your  wife  will  need  those?  " 

"  She  was  speaking  about  them  the  other  day," 
admitted  Joe.  "  I  guess  I'd  better  include  them.  Then, 
of  course,  we'll  need  some  first-class  scales.  Bob  has 
been  after  me  ever  since  he's  been  here  to  get  a  new 
platform  scale  and  a  good  steelyard,  for  weighing 
bulky  stuff,  and  we  ought  to  have  a  new  scale  for  the 
dairy  also." 


THE  NEW  IMPLEMENTS  217 

"  Those  ought  to  be  bought,  Joe ;  you  can't  get  far 
on  a  farm  without  good  scales,"  remarked  the  banker. 
"  Now,  let's  see  what  all  this  is  going  to  cost.  What 
do  you  make  it,  Joe?  " 

"  Well,  I  figure  the  items  that  Patterson's  com- 
pany is  going  to  furnish  will  come  to  $3000,  and  the 
other  items  that  we  have  decided  to  get  will  make  a 
total  of  $5000." 

"  This  ought  to  give  you  a  splendid  outfit,  Joe,  and 
make  it  possible  for  you  to  do  the  work  of  two  or  three 
men,  and  with  less  fatigue  to  yourself." 

"  Get  these  tools  here,  Patterson,  as  soon  as  you 
can,"  said  Williams,  "  We  want  the  corn  planter  and 
cultivator  first  and  the  others  just  as  soon  as  possible." 

"  I've  a  planter  and  cultivator  in  the  Pittsburgh 
warehouse  now,  and  can  have  them  here  in  three  or 
four  days." 

"  That'll  be  fine,"  said  Williams,  as  he  signed  the 
order  for  the  implements. 

"  What  discount  will  there  be  for  cash  on  an  order 
of  this  size,  Patterson?  "  he  asked  suddenly. 

"  We'll  allow  you  seven  per  cent,  for  cash  on  deliv- 
ery, which  is  a  little  better  than  we  ordinarily  give,  but 
we'll  throw  off  a  little  in  your  case  for  advertising, 
Joe.  We'll  probably  be  troubling  you  some  this  sum- 
mer sending  your  neighbors  around  to  see  the  tools 
working." 

"  That'll  be  all  right,"  said  Joe  smiling.  "  Let  as 
many  come  as  want  to.     I  think  lots  of  them  are  get- 


218  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

ting  jealous  already,  for  I  keep  mentioning  to  them 
whenever  I  see  them  how  Brookside  is  prospering." 

"  Well,  thanks  for  the  order,  Joe,"  said  Patterson, 
as  he  shook  him  by  the  hand.  "  I  don't  mind  saying 
this  is  the  most  complete  order  I've  ever  taken  for  a 
single  farm  in  your  section  of  the  country.  Our  com- 
pany ought  to  be  proud  to  know  they're  going  to  have 
a  farm  so  fully  equipped  with  their  implements." 

"  There's  another  thing  I've  had  on  my  mind  all 
day,  Joe,"  remarked  the  banker,  "  and  that  is  what 
you're  going  to  do  when  you  get  all  these  new  tools 
and  your  neighbors  come  over  and  want  to  borrow 
them.  You  can't  be  unneighborly  and  yet  you  can't 
supply  the  county  with  tools." 

"That's  where  I'm  one  ahead  of  you,  John," 
laughed  Williams.  "  We  figured  that  all  out  last  night. 
We  decided  that  five  years  would  be  the  average  book 
life  of  all  our  new  tools  and  implements,  which  would 
mean  a  depreciation  of  twenty  per  cent  each  year. 
Now,  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  divide  twenty  per  cent,  of 
the  cost  by  the  number  of  acres  on  which  we  use  the 
implement,  and  we  have  the  depreciation  per  acre.  We 
can  work  that  all  out  and  make  a  schedule  of  rates. 
What  we  propose  to  do  is  to  loan  any  tool  we  have, 
when  we  don't  need  it  ourselves,  at  the  established  rate 
plus  breakage  and  repairs." 

"Ha!  Ha!  Joe,  that's  a  fine  idea,"  laughed  the 
banker,  "  but  I'll  bet  you  the  price  of  the  power-driven 
ice-cream  freezer  you  forgot  to  order,  it  was  not  your 
own  idea," 


THE  NEW  IMPLEJVIENTS  «19 

"  No,  it  wasn't,"  confessed  Williams. 

"Well,  who's  was  it  then?"  eagerly  asked  the 
banker. 

"  Bob's,"  said  Joe  Williams. 

"  It  sounds  like  King  Solomon,  Joe,"  said  the 
banker,  "  for  it's  certainly  the  best  solution  of  that 
troublesome  problem  I  ever  heard.  No  one  can  right- 
fully refuse  to  pay  for  the  actual  use  of  a  tool,  even 
though  he  can't  afford  to  own  one,  and  five  years  ought 
to  be  a  fair  book  value  average.  So  Bob  thought  that 
out,"  he  chuckled.  "  Joe,  I'm  getting  prouder  of  that 
red-head,  freckled  face  nephew  of  yours  every  time 
I  see  him,  and  you  don't  want  to  forget  when  you  come 
to  settle  with  him  that  his  ideas  are  worth  something  to 
you  as  well  as  his  labor.  Let's  go  out  and  see  what 
he's  doing  on  the  new  cow  bam,"  continued  the  banker, 
and  they  walked  over  to  the  new  building. 

"  Hello,  Bob !  How  are  things  moving  this 
morning?  " 

"  Pretty  good,  Mr.  White.  This  cow  barn's  going 
to  be  some  building  compared  with  the  hen  house. 
Tony  and  I  staked  it  out  and  started  the  foundations. 
Where  are  those  boys  you  were  going  to  send  me?  " 

"  That's  why  I  came  out  to  see  you  to-day,"  replied 
the  banker .  "  There'll  be  six  here  to-morrow,  I 
couldn't  get  them  two  at  a  time,  so  I  thought  you  had 
better  take  them  when  you  could  get  them.  Each  boy 
is  to  stay  a  week,  Bob." 

"  I  don't  think  Aunt  Bettie  can  take  care  of  six 
boys  at  once,  if  they  all  stay  overnight." 


220  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  Only  two  will  stay  at  night,  Bob.  I  told  them  the 
working  hours  would  be  from  seven  to  six;  that  will 
give  them  time  to  get  home.  You  had  better  arrange 
your  work  so  you  can  take  full  advantage  of  their  help." 

"  We've  plenty  of  work,  Mr.  White,  I  could  use  a 
dozen  boys  right  now,"  replied  Bob.  "  We  ought  to 
have  the  timbers  for  the  roof  brought  out.  Uncle  Joe. 
Couldn't  you  take  the  big  tractor  and  the  wagon  and 
bring  out  a  load  this  afternoon,  while  you  are  waiting 
for  the  corn  planter  to  come  ?  " 

"  It  wouldn't  pay  to  run  the  tractor  for  just  one 
wagon.  Bob,"  said  his  uncle,  "  when  it  can  haul  two 
wagons  at  once." 

"There's  something  we  forgot,"  said  the  banker; 
"  you  should  have  a  good  substantial  truck  around  this 
place,  one  that  will  haul  a  real  load,  and  I  know  where 
you  can  get  a  good  one  at  about  half  price.  Henry 
Smith,  the  man  from  whom  you  bought  the  auto,  Joe, 
took  it  in  trade  for  a  motor  truck  recently.  Call  him 
up  on  the  'phone  and  tell  him  you  want  it — tell  him 
you  "would  like  to  have  him  put  in  a  short  tongue  for  a 
motor  hitch.  The  truck  has  been  used  for  hauling  lum- 
ber and  is  just  right  for  your  work." 

As  they  were  speaking,  they  saw  Edith  rushing 
across  the  barnyard  waving  her  hat  and  shouting.  She 
was  more  excited  than  Bob  had  ever  seen  her  and  had 
evidently  been  running  for  quite  a  distance,  for  she 
was  so  out  of  breath  she  could  scarcely  make  herself 
imderstood.    As  she  neared  them,  she  exclaimed : 


THE  NEW  IMPLEMENTS  221 

"  The  bees,  Bob — they're  swarming!  " 

"  There,  Bob,  now  you've  a  real  job  on  your  hands," 
laughed  the  banker.  "  If  I  weren't  so  afraid  of  them 
myself,  I'd  like  to  see  you  put  them  into  the  hive." 

"  Well,  I've  never  done  it  before,  Mr.  White,"  he 
replied,  "  but  I  think  I  can  manage  it." 

''  Perhaps  you  better  take  Tony  along  to  help  you," 
suggested  his  uncle. 

"  No,  I'll  take  care  of  them  myself,  Uncle  Joe,"  he 
replied,  and  started  for  the  house  to  get  his  veil  and 
smoker. 

When  he  arrived  at  the  apiary,  much  to  his  sur- 
prise, not  one  but  three  of  the  colonies  had  swarmed. 
One  had  left  the  hive  and  alighted  on  an  apple  tree 
nearby,  the  second  was  just  getting  ready  to  leave,  and 
the  third  was  hanging  outside  in  a  way  that  showed 
they  would  soon  be  on  the  wing. 

Bob  was  so  intent  on  his  work  that  he  was  not 
aware  that  anyone  was  near  him,  until  he  heard  a  voice 
say: 

"  Won't  you  let  me  help  you,  Bob;  I'm  not  afraid 
of  being  stung." 

He  looked  up  quickly,  and  there  was  Edith — her 
head  concealed  in  a  quickly  constructed  veil.  She  was 
wearing  a  white  cotton  blouse  and  she  also  had  on  a 
pair  of  kid  gloves  with  the  fingers  cut  off. 

"  Aren't  you  afraid  you'll  get  stung,  Edith,"  said 
Bob. 

"I'm  like  yourself,  Bob;  I've  never  handled  bees 


222  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

before,  but  I  think  they're  the  most  interesting  thing  we 
have  on  the  farm.  I've  been  reading  many  books  about 
them  recently.    Won't  you  let  me  help  you?  " 

"  Yes,  if  you're  not  afraid,  I'd  be  glad  to  have  you," 
he  replied,  "  for  there's  going  to  be  two  more  swarms 
soon." 

They  brushed  off  the  swarm  into  a  small  box  and 
carried  it  over  to  a  new  hive.  As  soon  as  the  queen  had 
entered,  they  left  it  there  and  went  back  to  watch  the 
second  one. 

They  were  just  in  time,  for  the  swann  that  filled 
the  air  was  starting  to  settle  and  they,  too,  were  soon 
gathered  and  put  into  a  new  hive.  By  this  time  the 
third  one  was  out  and  they  saw  it  was  getting  ready  for 
a  long  flight,  for  it  kept  getting  higher  and  higher, 
despite  the  racket  they  made,  and  started  off.  It  flew 
for  quite  a  distance  before  it  settled  on  the  limb  of  a 
shell-bark  hickory  tree  in  a  field  on  the  adjoining  farm. 

"Of  all  the  places  for  them  to  pick  out,"  said  Bob, 
as  he  and  Edith  came  up  and  saw  where  they  had 
finally  settled,  "  but  nevertheless  I'm  not  going  to  lose 
that  swarm,  if  I  can  help  it;  though  it's  going  to  be 
pretty  hard  climbing  that  tree.  Every  time  I  climb  a 
hickory  tree,  I  think  of  Jim  Black." 

"  Why,  who  was  he?  "  asked  Edith. 

"  Oh,  he  was  the  meanest  man  in  the  country.  They 
say  he'd  wear  out  a  pair  of  new  overalls  climbing  a 
sell-bark  hickory  tree  to  get  the  wool  out  of  a  robin's 
nest,"  laughed  Bob. 


THE  NEW  IMPLEMENTS  223 

"  He  must  have  been  pretty  mean  if  he'd  do  that," 
said  Edith. 

After  considerable  work,  Bob  managed  to  get  up 
over  the  rough  jagged  trunk  and  finally  succeeded  in 
cutting  off  the  limb  on  which  the  bees  were  hanging. 
With  the  end  of  the  limb  in  one  hand,  he  worked  his 
way  back  to  the  trunk  and  then  gradually  on  down  to 
the  ground,  where  Edith  took  the  limb  from  him. 
After  putting  the  bees  into  a  box  they  carried  them 
back  and  put  them  into  a  new  hive. 

Shortly  after  the  bees  had  arrived  at  the  farm,  Bob 
had  purchased  ten  new  sectional  hives  and  a  supply 
of  ready-made  combs  to  aid  them  in  rapid  honey- 
making.  Much  to  his  surprise  he  found  two  of  these 
hives  had  been  set  up  and  had  colonies  working  in 
them, 

"  I  wonder  when  those  hives  got  bees  in  them, 
Edith?  "  he  inquired,  surprised  to  see  he  had  two  more 
colonies  than  he  knew  about. 

*'  That's  a  secret,"  she  laughed. 

"  What  do  you  mean — a  secret?  "  he  asked. 

"  Well,  yesterday  when  you  were  in  town  two 
colonies  swarmed  and  Aunt  Bettie  and  I  didn't  know 
what  to  do  with  them,  but  Tony  overheard  us  talking 
about  it,  and  what  do  you  suppose  he  did?  " 

"  It  looks  as  though  he  hived  them,"  replied  Bob. 

"  That's  just  what  he  did.  He  wouldn't  put  on  a 
veil  or  gloves,  either,  but  just  went  over  to  the  limb, 
scraped  them  into  a  box,  carried  them  over  and, put 


224  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

them  in  the  hive.  He  even  picked  up  the  queen  and 
held  it  up  and  showed  it  to  me.  I  was  afraid  to  get  too 
close  for  fear  I'd  get  stung,  for  I  didn't  have  a  veil  on. 
He  said  he  understands  bees  and  that  they  never  sting 
him." 

"That's  fine,"  said  Bob.  "I'd  lost  them  if  it 
hadn't  been  for  Tony." 

"  Yes,  I  think  they  would  probably  have  gotten 
away,"  said  Edith,  "  so  you'll  have  to  thank  Tony  for 
saving  them  for  you.  I  think  your  hives  are  too  hot, 
Bob.  The  trees  don't  shade  them  from  the  afternoon 
sun.  Why  don't  you  design  a  concrete  apiary,  a  sort 
of  an  umbrella,  and  keep  them  cooler,  then  they're  not 
so  apt  to  swarm.  You  could  make  it  so  it  could  be 
closed  up  in  the  winter,  too,  then  you  wouldn't  need 
a  cellar." 

"  I'll  do  that  to-night,"  said  Bob,  "  because  we  can't 
afiford  to  lose  any  bees,  they're  too  valuable  this  time 
of  the  year,  just  when  the  honey-making  season's 
opening." 

"  I  think.  Bob,"  said  Edith,  on  the  way  back  to  the 
house,  "  that  the  bees  and  the  chickens  are  the  most 
interesting  things  you  have  on  the  farm.  I  really 
believe  I  could  manage  both  myself  after  a  little  while," 
she  continued,  smiling  at  him,  as  they  walked  along. 

"  I  think  myself  you  could,  Edith,"  he  added,  look- 
ing full  into  her  eyes  in  an  understanding  way,  and 
then  they  both  became  suddenly  silent  and  didn't  speak 
iagain  until  they  reached  the  house. 


XIX 

THE   STORM 

Joe  Williams  found  that  they  had  enough  fence 
posts  made  to  erect  a  section  along  his  property  front- 
ing on  the  main  road.  That  there  might  be  no  dispute 
about  the  Hne,  he  had  a  surveyor  come  out  from  the 
town  to  set  stakes  giving  the  dividing  Hues,  In  order 
that  his  neighbors  would  all  be  satisfied,  he  invited 
them  over  and  showed  them  just  where  the  stakes 
would  come,  referring  to  the  original  survey  of  the 
property  in  order  to  establish  the  monuments.  When 
they  were  all  satisfied  that  the  lines  were  right,  he  had 
the  monuments  re-established  by  iron  pipe  put  deep 
into  the  ground  until  such  times  as  he  could  put  in 
monuments  of  concrete. 

The  farm  fronted  on  the  main  road  for  a  distance 
of  twelve  hundred  feet.  There  were  now  two  entrances 
— the  old  main  entrance  at  the  lane  on  the  west  side 
of  the  farm,  and  the  new  road  to  the  sand  pit  over  the 
breast  of  the  old  dam,  near  the  eastern  border.  There 
was  a  small  corner  of  about  an  acre  and  a  half  between 
the  new  pond  and  the  road — sort  of  triangular  shape 
piece. 

As  soon  as  the  holes  were  all  dug.  Bob  got  his 
sketch,  showing  the  placing  of  the  fence  posts  and 
the  location  of  the  two  gates  at  the  entrance  to  the 
property;  also  sketches  for  two  extra  large  posts,  one 

iS  225 


226  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

on  each  side  of  the  driveway.  These  posts  were  orna- 
mental and  made  specially  strong  by  steel  rods,  not  only 
to  support  the  gates,  but  with  two  bolts  placed  near 
the  top  for  attaching  a  sign,  for  it  had  been  decided  that 
there  should  be  a  sign,  cast  in  concrete  for  permanency, 
and  painted  white  with  deep  blue  letters  and  border. 
The  sign  was  to  be  fifteen  inches  high  and  twenty 
inches  long  and  contain  the  words :  "  Brookside  Farm, 
Joseph  Williams,  Proprietor." 

Tony  had  made  a  set  of  forms  for  these  posts, 
which  were  to  be  cast  in  place,  though  the  other  posts 
had  all  been  pre-cast  at  the  sand  pit  and  were  set  up 
in  the  holes  as  they  were  dug.  The  old  rail  fence 
had  been  moved  back  and  the  fence  row  thoroughly 
grubbed  out  before  the  wire  fence  was  strung.  When 
the  wire  was  finally  put  in  place  and  the  old  rails  hauled 
away,  it  gave  a  very  neat  appearance  to  the  entrance 
of  the  farm. 

Between  this  fence  and  the  new  ditch,  and  lying 
between  the  two  entrances  to  the  farm,  was  a  field  of 
about  seven  acres  which  they  decided  to  plant  in 
potatoes,  as  this  field  was  the  most  fertile  of  all  on 
the  farm. 

"  What  will  we  do  with  the  little  corner  down  by  the 
pond,  Bob?  "  asked  his  uncle  that  evening  as  they  sat 
around  the  table  for  their  daily  conference. 

"  I've  a  suggestion  to  make  for  that,"  said  his  wife. 

"  Well,  what  is  it,  now?"  asked  her  husband  smiling. 

"  Build  a  little  cottage  there  for  Tony  and  Maria. 


THE  STORM  227 

When  we  get  through  with  our  concrete  work,  Tony 
can  then  make  fence  posts,  apiaries  and  other  standard 
concrete  sections  at  the  pit  and  we  can  sell  them; 
besides,  he  can  keep  account  of  all  the  sand  and  gravel 
that  is  taken  away,  and,  of  course,  if  he  lives  there, 
he'll  always  be  on  hand  when  we  need  him.  You 
remember  what  John  White  said  about  other  farmers 
putting  up  concrete  buildings,  and  that  each  time  they 
erected  one  we  could  sell  them  the  materials.  It  will 
make  Tony  and  Maria  happy,  and  keep  them  where 
their  services  will  be  most  available." 

"  That's  a  good  idea,  Bettie,"  said  her  husband. 
"  How  much  would  such  a  house  cost?  " 

"  I  don't  know,  but  I  think  we  ought  to  make  them 
comfortable  in  a  house  that  would  cost  not  much  over 
$1000  to  $1500.  It  should  be  of  the  bungalow  type 
and  will  help  to  give  our  farm  a  very  artistic  look." 

"  What  were  you  and  Maria  doing  down  around  the 
pond  the  other  day?"  asked  her  husband,  suddenly 
remembering  that  he  saw  them  there. 

''  Oh,  we  were  planting  slips  for  willow  trees.  When 
they  grow  up,  if  we  trim  them,  it  will  enhance  the 
appearance  very  much." 

"  Oh,  that  was  it?  "  added  her  husband,  winking  at 
Bob.  "  I  saw  the  young  willow  trees,  but  didn't  know 
who  planted  them." 

"  Now,  you're  only  joking,"  said  his  wife.  "  You 
knew  all  the  time  what  we  were  doing." 

"  Fine  idea,  although  I  must  confess  I  didn't  quite 


228  HIDDEX  TREASUEE 

understand  at  first  what  it  was.  but  I  see  now :  we're 
not  only  going  to  have  prosperit}*  at  Brookside.  but 
beauty  as  well,"  and  coming  over  to  the  side  of  the 
table  where  she  was  sitting,  he  kissed  her. 

"  What  are  you  and  Ruth  so  busy  at,  Edith?  "  asked 
her  uncle,  looking  across  at  them. 

"  We've  so  many  bulletins.  Uncle  Joe,  that  I  am 
indexing  and  filing  them  on  a  shelf,  so  we  can  get  them 
just  when  we  want  them,"  said  Edith.  '"  You  see, 
information,  imless  it's  used,  is  of  no  value,  and  if 
we  don't  arrange  our  information  so  it's  easily  avail- 
able when  we  need  it,  it  will  be  of  little  ser\-ice  to  us." 

'"  I'm  glad  the  old  job's  done,"  said  Ruth,  "  for 
Edith  has  been  making  me  write  all  the  names  and 
numbers  in  a  book  and  it's  been  a  terrible  job.  Uncle 
Joe — a  good  deal  worse  than  running  the  concrete 
mixer." 

At  nine  o'clock  the  family  retired  and  had  been  in 
bed  but  a  short  time  when  a  severe  thunderstorm  broke 
over  Brookside  Farm.  Bob  had  seen  many  storms  in  his 
eighteen  years,  but  never  one  so  \*iolent  as  the  one  which 
now  bm-st  in  fur\-  upon  them.  Peal  after  peal  of  thun- 
der followed  the  bright  flashes  of  lightning,  as  they 
struck  all  aroimd  them.  The  house  fairly  rocked  on 
its  foundations  and  the  storm  was  so  severe  they  all 
got  up  and  dressed.  Bob  had  never  been  frightened  by 
a  storm  before,  but  as  the  hea\-y  claps  of  thunder  fol- 
lowed each  other  almost  as  fast  as  he  could  wink,  he 
shivered  a  little  at  the  thought  of  what  would  happen 
if  the  lightning  should  strike  the  house.     The  whole 


THE  STORM  229 

family  assembled  in  the  sitting  room  wondering  what 
might  happen.  Bob  walked  over  and  stood,  beside 
Edith,  who  was  looking  out  of  a  window.  Involimta- 
rily  she  leaned  against  him  for  protection,  and  he  caught 
and  held  her  trembling  hand.  They  were  standing  thus 
looking  out  at  the  storm,  when  suddenly  a  brighter  flash 
than  anv  of  the  others,  followed  immediately  bv  a  loud 
clap  of  thunder,  almost  stunned  them.  Edith  swayed 
and  would  haye  fallen  to  the  floor  had  Bob  not  caught 
her  in  his  arms.  Though  stunned  himself,  he  managed 
to  keep  her  from  falling,  and  had  scarcely  recoyered 
from  the  shock,  when  as  he  looked  out  through  the  win- 
dow he  saw  the  bam  was  in  flames. 

*'  Our  barn's  been  struck,"  he  shouted,  and  they 
rushed  to  the  window  to  look,  and  sure  enough  the 
barn  was  in  flames. 

Joe  Williams  reached  for  his  hat  to  start  out  in 
the  storm,  but  felt  a  detaining  hand  on  his  arm. 

'■  Joe,"  said  his  wife  quickly.  "  there's  not  an  animal 
in  the  bam,  and  besides  there's  scarcely  any  hay  or 
grain  left,  and  what  other  things  are  there,  certainly 
are  not  worth  your  risking  your  life.  About  the  only 
thing  you'll  lose  will  be  the  harness  and  some  small 
tools."  and  catching  him  firmly  by  the  arms,  as  she  felt 
him  pull  away,  she  continued : 

"I'm  not  going  to  let  you  risk  your  life  for  those 
things.  There  are  no  other  buildings  near  by  that  tlie 
fire  can  damage.  The  rain  is  coming  down  in  torrents, 
and  it  will  prevent  the  flames  setting  anything  else  on 
fire.    Let's  all  go  out  on  the  porch  and  watch  it  bum," 


230  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

she  added,  and  while  the  storm  continued  unabated, 
they  huddled  together  at  the  end  of  the  porch  watching 
while  the  barn  slowly  burned  to  its  foundations. 

"For  how  much  did  you  have  it  insured,  Joe?" 
asked  his  wife,  as  the  fire  died  down. 

"  Five  hundred  dollars,"  said  her  husband. 

"  Well,  it's  a  loss,  I  know,"  she  said,  "  but  it's  lucky 
it  burned  now  instead  of  later  in  the  season,  when  it 
would  have  been  full  of  grain  and  implements.  I'm 
glad  we've  been  keeping  the  live  stock  in  the  fields 
lately." 

"Well,"  said  her  husband,  "  there's  no  use  of  cry- 
ing over  spilled  milk  or  burned  barns,  so  I  say  we  all 
go  back  to  bed,  for  the  fire's  nearly  out  and  this  rain 
would  soon  put  out  any  new  place  it  might  start  up." 

"  I  think  it's  perfectly  splendid.  Uncle  Joe,"  said 
Ruth,  now  that  the  lightning  had  ceased  flashing ;  "  this 
will  give  Bob  and  me  a  chance  to  build  you  and  Aunt 
Bettie  a  new  barn." 

"  All  right,"  said  her  uncle;  "  you'll  probably  have  a 
chance  now,  Ruth,  to  show  us  what  you  can  do  with  a 
real  building." 

Hay  making  soon  arrived  and  now  that  the  barn 
had  been  bumed,  it  was  necessary  that  the  hay  should 
be  cut  and  stacked  in  the  field  to  be  brought  to  the  new 
barn  later.  It  was  fortunate,  indeed,  that  the  imple- 
ments did  not  arrive  until  the  week  following  the 
destruction  of  the  barn  and  that  the  ones  already  deliv- 
ered had  been  in  the  wagon  shed  out  of  danger — con- 
sequently they  were  all  saved. 


THE     blUE     DELIVERY     RAKE     FLUFFS    LP     THE    HAY     AND    LETS   THE 

ITS    WORK    QUICKLY 


£. 


,0^. 


lJ«Rl^^-:-'*''4iL 


THE  SELF-LOADER  MAKES  POSSIBLE  THE  QUICK  STORAGE  OF  PROPERLY  CURED 
HAY    AND    SAVES    TONS    OF    MAN-LlFTINti    POWER 


THE  STORM  231 

While  Joe  Williams  was  sorry  to  lose  his  barn,  yet 
in  a  way  he  was  glad,  now  that  it  was  gone,  for  it  had 
always  been  an  eyesore,  standing  there  between  the 
house  and  the  main  road.  While  his  wife,  too,  felt 
sorry  for  the  loss,  she  was  secretly  happy  that  she  could 
now  carry  out  her  plans  and  build  a  new  house  where 
the  old  barn  had  stood,  giving  it  the  prominence  it 
should  have.  Her  husband  was  sure  this  had  been  in 
her  mind  when  they  located  the  dairy  house,  for  he 
saw  it  was  in  the  right  place  to  be  a  part  of  the  group 
of  buildings. 

Ruth  was  in  the  hay  field  every  day  now,  helping 
her  uncle  with  the  work.  This  work  seemed  to  delight 
her  more  than  anything  she  had  found  on  the  farm. 
She  was  very  busy  driving  the  hay  rake  one  day  when 
John  White's  runabout  drove  up  into  the  barnyard. 
The  banker,  however,  was  not  in  the  car.  His  nephew, 
Eddie  Brown,  and  his  chum,  Herbert  Potter,  were  the 
occupants.  Bob,  with  Tony  and  four  of  the  neighbors' 
boys,  were  putting  the  finishing  touches  on  the  cow 
barn  and  saw  them  coming.  He  was  not  particularly 
interested  in  them;  they  did  not  like  farm  work  any 
more  than  he  liked  them,  and  their  coming  always 
annoyed  him.  He  was  evidently  not  to  be  bothered 
with  their  society,  however,  for  they  went  into  the 
house,  and  a  few  minutes  later  he  saw  them  going  over 
to  the  hay  field,  where  Ruth  and  her  uncle  were 
working. 

Bob  was  so  busy  with  his  work  that  he  had  prac- 
tically forgotten  them  until  he  looked  over  and  saw 


232  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

Edith  at  the  apiary  examining  the  bees.  With  her  was 
Eddie  Brown,  and  Bob  smiled  as  he  noticed  that  Eddie 
was  standing  at  a  safe  distance  from  the  hives. 

It  was  perhaps  a  quarter  of  an  hour  later  when 
Bob  again  looked  over  into  the  hay  field  and  saw  the 
two  boys  with  pitchforks  turning  hay,  in  a  portion  of 
the  field  that  was  swampy  and  full  of  elderberry 
bushes.  He  was  still  watching  them  when  he  saw 
Eddie  use  his  fork  to  strike  at  something  in  the  air  and 
a  moment  later  his  friend  Herbert  did  the  same  thing. 
Then  as  he  and  his  helpers  watched,  the  boys  seemed  to 
be  striking  all  around  them  with  their  pitchforks.  Sud- 
denly Eddie  and  Herbert  fell  to  the  ground  and  began 
to  roll,  and  Bob  saw  his  uncle  stop  the  team,  jump  from 
the  mower  and  rush  over  in  their  direction. 

There  was  no  further  doubt  in  Bob's  mind  what 
was  going  on.  As  soon  as  his  uncle  had  gotten  near 
them,  he  took  a  bundle  of  hay  and  struck  in  all  direc- 
tions as  he  rushed  in  and  got  one  of  the  boys  by  his 
legs  and  started  to  drag  him  out. 

Ruth,  not  to  be  outdone  by  her  uncle,  stopped  her 
horse  and  rushed  back  and  grabbed  Eddie  Brown's 
legs  and  started  to  pull  him  away.  She  no  sooner  had 
^hold  of  his  legs  than  she  snatched  off  her  straw  hat  and 
began  waving  it  frantically  around  in  the  air,  then 
turned  and  rushed  for  the  house  as  fast  as  she  could  go. 

Bob  looked  to  see  what  had  become  of  Edith,  and 
noticed  her  leaning  against  a  tree  near  the  apiary.  Even 
at  the  distance  he  'was  from  her,  he  could  tell  she  was 
enjoying  the  situation  as  much  as  himself. 


THE  STORM  233 

There  was  no  question  of  what  had  happened.  The 
boys  had  stirred  up  a  nest  of  swamp  bumble  bees,  and 
instead  of  running  away  from  them  had  stopped  to 
fight  them.  It  suddenly  occurred  to  Bob  that  his  uncle 
liked  these  two  boys  about  as  much  as  he  liked  them 
himself,  and  he  figured  it  was  perhaps  for  this  reason 
his  uncle  had  forgotten  the  existence  of  the  bumble  bees, 
that  he  doubtless  located  when  he  ran  the  mower  over 
them.  Perhaps  it  was  also  for  this  reason  he  would  not 
let  Ruth  rake  there,  but  instead  set  the  boys  at  work 
with  forks. 

As  he  watched.  Bob  saw  them  all  go  down  to  the 
brook  where  his  uncle  dabbed  wet  clay  on  the  stings 
and  where  a  few  minutes  later  Edith  joined  them  and 
escorted  them  back  to  the  house. 

Ruth  was  so  badly  stung  that  she  was  ill  and  her 
aunt  put  her  to  bed  at  once.  The  boys  sat  on  the  porch 
for  a  while,  the  picture  of  distress,  listening  to  Edith 
narrate  the  story  of  the  fight.  Both  of  Herbert's  eyes 
were  swollen  tight  shut  and  Eddie  was  able  to  see  out 
of  only  one  of  his.  After  sitting  restlessly  on  the  porch 
for  a  half  hour,  they  got  into  their  car  and  started  for 
home. 

"What  are  you  laughing  at,  Tony?"  asked  Bob, 
as  they  watched  the  car  disappear  down  the  lane. 

"  The  boys  no-a  like-a  da  work,  and-a  the  bees  they 
no-a  like-a  da  boys." 

"  I  guess  that's  about  right,"  said  Bob;  "  we  prob- 
ably won't  see  them  again  for  some  time." 


XX 

GOOD  ROADS 

As  the  Fourth  of  July  approached,  John  White,  the 
banker,  and  Joe  Williams,  proprietor  of  Brookside 
Farm,  held  a  number  of  conferences.  It  was  finally 
decided  to  celebrate  the  Fourth  with  a  picnic  on  the 
farm. 

"  I  don't  think  we'll  make  it  exactly  a  day  of  rest 
though,"  said  the  banker,  "  for  I  notice  your  wheat  is 
just  about  ready  for  cutting,  Joe.  Why  not  use  the 
tractor  to  draw  your  new  binder  instead  of  the  team." 

"I'll  have  to  do  that  anyway,  whether  I  want  to 
or  not,"  smiled  Joe. 

"  How's  that?  "  asked  the  banker. 

"  Well,  we  have  two  of  the  finest  little  Belgian  colts 
you've  ever  seen,"  he  replied. 

"  Indeed!  "  exclaimed  the  banker.  "  They  will  be 
worth  money  to  you." 

"  Yes,"  said  Joe  Williams,  "  those  colts  will  easily 
bring  from  $150  to  $250  by  next  spring." 

"  Now,  you  can  see  why  it  pays  to  keep  good  stock, 
Joe,"  said  the  banker.  "  No  farmer  should  waste  feed 
on  horses  that  weigh  less  than  1600  pounds — from  that 
on  up  to  2000  pounds  is  the  coming  horse  in  this 
country.  Look  what  a  difference  there  is  in  their  capac- 
ity for  work  and  a  large  horse  really  eats  little  more 
than  a  small  scrub." 


GOOD  ROADS  235 

After  some  discussion  it  was  decided  that  the 
County  Commissioners  should  be  invited  to  the  picnic, 
also  a  representative  of  the  Portland  Cement  Asso- 
ciation, to  tell  them  about  the  making  of  concrete  roads, 
and  that  Mr.  Patterson,  too,  should  be  included  in  the 
invitation. 

Shortly  after  moving  to  town,  Bob's  grandparents 
had  gone  for  an  extended  visit  to  their  relatives  and 
had  just  returned  to  their  new  home  a  few  days  before 
the  picnic,  so  on  the  morning  of  the  Fourth,  the  first 
to  arrive  at  Brookside  were  his  grandparents.  Bob  was 
not  only  delighted  to  see  them,  but  fully  enjoyed  their 
surprise  at  the  changed  appearance  of  the  farm.  Of 
course,  the  loss  of  the  barn  was  one  of  the  things  that 
made  the  farm  look  different,  but  the  neat  wire  fence, 
with  its  self-opening  gates  at  the  main  road,  the  new 
buildings  which  were  fast  taking  shape,  and  the  replac- 
ing of  the  old  pond  with  a  field  of  fine  growing  corn, 
all  helped  to  give  the  farm  a  changed  look. 

Bob's  grandmother  had  evidently  changed  her  mind 
regarding  the  son's  trip  to  the  poorhouse.  Her  rest 
from  farm  labor  and  the  long  visit  among  old  friends 
had  rekindled  her  interest  in  all  things.  She  was  as 
eager  as  a  child  and  listened  keenly  as  Bob  took  them 
from  building  to  building  and  showed  what  had  been 
done  and  explained  the  details  and  new  devices ;  also 
the  other  buildings  that  were  contemplated.  His 
grandmother  was  delighted,  most  of  all  with  the  dairy 
and  hen  house. 


236  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  I  tell  you,  Bob,"  she  said,  "  you've  certainly  made 
the  work  light  for  a  woman  on  this  farm,  and  I'm  glad 
now  that  Joe  has  been  able  to  put  in  a  modern  farm 
equipment.  I  suppose  the  next  thing  you'll  be  doing 
will  be  to  put  up  a  new  house  and  barn." 

"  Oh,  yes,  we've  arranged  that  already,  grand- 
mother," said  Bob.  "  You  see,  when  the  lightning 
struck  the  old  barn  we  didn't  have  our  plans  made  or 
anything,  so  after  John  White  and  Uncle  Joe  talked  it 
over  they  decided  to  get  Mr.  Brady,  the  contractor,  to 
help  them  out  with  the  buildings.  It  would  have  been 
a  pretty  big  job  for  Tony  and  me  to  get  them  all  up 
this  summer." 

"  You've  really  accomplished  wonders  already. 
Bob,  with  the  dairy  house,  hen  house  and  cow  bam," 
said  his  grandmother. 

"  These  are  the  contractor's  tools  and  materials 
over  here,  grandma,"  said  Bob;  "  be  says  he's  going  to 
have  all  the  buildings  finished  by  September  first." 

"  Not  the  new  house,  Bob?  " 

**  Well,  it  may  take  longer  for  that  building,  as 
the  house  will  have  to  be  plastered  and  painted,  but  he 
has  agreed  to  have  the  barn  up  by  the  first  of  Sep- 
tember and  the  house  not  later  than  the  first  of  Novem- 
ber. They're  all  going  to  be  of  concrete  and  fireproof, 
too,  like  our  smaller  buildings,"  he  said  proudly. 

"  They  must  be  costing  a  good  deal,  Bob." 

"  Not  so  much,  grandma ;  the  contract  price  for  the 
barn  is  $2000  and  the  house  $4500." 


GOOD  ROADS  237 

"  My,  Bob,  that's  a  terrible  amount  of  money  to 
spend  for  two  buildings." 

"  Yes,  but  wait  till  you  see  all  we're  getting  out  of 
the  farm  this  year,  grandma.  Now,  come  over  and  see 
the  laundry  we've  fitted  up  in  the  old  wash  house.  Of 
course,  we'll  have  a  real  laundry  in  the  new  house,  but 
this  will  give  you  some  idea  of  what  it  will  be  like," 
he  said,  as  he  opened  the  door  and  showed  her  in. 
"  This  is  the  washing  machine  and  wringer,  and  this 
is  the  mangle." 

"  Why,  what's  the  mangle  for?  "  she  asked. 

"  Oh,  that's  the  machine  for  ironing  the  clothes," 
answered  Bob.  "  They  all  run  by  electricity,  too.  The 
waste  water  from  the  pond  runs  a  turbine  water  wheel 
and  that's  connected  by  a  belt  to  an  electric  generator, 
a  machine  for  changing  mechanical  energy  to  electrical 
energy,  you  know ;  and  all  we  need  tO'  do  is  to  throw 
this  switch  over  and  the  wheel  starts  turning  down  at 
the  pond  and  we  have  current.  Of  course,  at  night  we 
take  the  current  from  the  storage  batteries  for'  lights, 
after  we  shut  down  the  wheel,  but  these  motors  require 
too  much  current  to  use  the  batteries  for  them, 
economically." 

"  Why,  do  you  have  electric  lights  in  the  house, 
Bob?  "  she  asked.  , 

"  Not  in  the  house,  grandma — only  in  the  new 
buildings,  and  the  laundry.  We  didn't  think  it  would 
pay  to  put  the  lights  in  the  house  for  only  a  few  weeks 
in  the  summer,  when  we'll  soon  have  our  new  house 


238  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

finished,  but,  of  course,  there'll  be  electric  lights  in 
the  new  house." 

"  Well,  Bob,  it's  certainly  wonderful  the  way  things 
have  changed  in  such  a  short  time.  I  was  admiring 
your  bees  as  we  came  up  the  new  drive.  The  white 
hives  certainly  look  nice  sitting  over  there  under  the 
green  trees,  and  such  a  lot  of  white  chickens,  Bob.  I 
never  saw  so  many  in  one  place  in  my  life  before.  How 
many  have  you  now?  " 

"  Almost  looo,  grandma,"  he  replied  proudly. 
"  Edith  mostly  looks  after  them  and  the  bees." 

"  What  will  you  do  with  so  many.  Bob?  " 

"  Oh,  we'll  sell  a  lot  and  keep  some  for  laying. 
Just  wait  till  you  see  our  books  next  spring — you'll  see 
how  it  pays." 

At  eleven  o'clock  the  neighbors  began  to  arrive  in 
automobiles,  buggies  and  wagons ;  each  brought  a  full 
basket  with  them.  Bob's  aunt,  Maria  and  the  two 
girls  were  as  busy  as  bees  in  the  kitchen  preparing  cof- 
fee and  lemonade,  and  Bob's  nose  detected  the  odor  of 
fried  chicken. 

Joe  Williams  had  taken  the  tractor  and  binder  and 
gone  to  the  wheat  field  and  was  busy  cutting  his  wheat. 
As  fast  as  the  farmers  arrived,  they  adjourned  to  the 
field  to  see  the  tractor  work.  As  the  wheat  field  was 
not  far  from  the  meadows,  they  all  had  a  chance  to 
see  Bob's  apiary,  where  Tony  was  busy  hiving  a  colony 
of  bees  that  had  swarmed  that  morning. 

At  twelve  o'clock  Joe  Williams  stopped  the  tractor 


GOOD  ROADS  239 

and  came  over  to  join  his  guests.  Lunch  was  served 
under  the  trees  surrounding  the  house.  As  soon  as 
they  were  all  assembled,  the  baskets  were  opened  and 
Bob's  aunt  and  the  girls  served  the  hot  coffee,  lemon- 
ade and  fried  chicken.  When  the  dinner  was  finished, 
John  White,  who  was  accompanied  by  his  wife,  Mr. 
Patterson  and  a  strange  gentleman,  arose  and  said : 

"  We  have  gathered  here  at  Brookside  Farm  to 
renew  old  acquaintances  and  make  new  ones,  and  I 
know  no  better  day  on  which  to  strike  a  blow  for 
liberty  from  hard  work  than  the  day  on  which  we 
celebrate  our  National  Liberty. 

"  Before  going  into  the  details  of  how  you  may 
gain  that  liberty,  we  are  going  to  sing  '  America  ' ;  then 
after  that  we're  going  to  sing  a  new  song  composed  by 
one  of  the  young  ladies  living  here  at  Brookside  Farm 
— Miss  Edith  Atwood.  She  has  made  copies  of  the 
words  so  you  can  all  help  sing  it;  you'll  find  the  tune 
easy  and  perhaps  familiar  to  some  of  you.  Let's  stand 
while  we  sing  *  America ',"  and  as  they  arose  Tony 
stepped  forward  with  his  flute  and  led  off  with  the 
tune. 

"  Wait!  wait!  "  exclaimed  the  banker;  "  you're  all 
free  men,  singing  your  National  Hymn.  Don't  be 
afraid  to  sing  out — there  isn't  a  third  of  you  singing. 
Now  let's  get  together  and  all  sing — sing  like  the  free 
men  we  are  and  intend  to  remain.  All  ready!"  and 
he  led  off  with  a  fine  baritone  voice. 

There  was  not  a  person  there  who  did  not  sing  his 


240  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

best  and  it  was  surprising  how  many  good  voices  there 
were  among  them.  When  they  had  finished  and  seated 
themselves,  Ruth  passed  around  the  copies  of  the  new 
song.  Much  against  her  protest,  she  was  wearing  a 
dress  to-day. 

"  Now  we'll  try  the  new  song,"  said  the  banker, 
"  but  first  we'll  have  Tony  play  the  air  through  so  that 
you  may  learn  the  tune.  All  ready — now  let's  have  the 
song,"  and  as  Tony  started  the  air  again  they  sang : 

Oh,  Happy,  Happy  Farmer 
(Tune,  "  Oh,  Mother  Dear  Jerusalem  ") 
Oh,  do  you  know  the  joy  that  comes  from  living  on  a  farm, 
When  you  have  power  to  do  your  work,  and  steam  to  keep  you 

warm  ? 
Oh,  happy,  happy  farmer,  his  life  is  free  from  care — 
An  auto  in  his  garage,  and  good  roads  everywhere. 

They  sang  it  with  a  will — not  once  but  three  times. 

"  That's  a  good  song,"  said  the  banker;  "  one  with 
a  sermon,  and  that's  the  kind  that  lasts.  I  hope  you'll 
all  remember  it.  I  want  to  congratulate  Miss  Atwood 
on  the  happy  thought  so  ably  expressed  by  the  song. 

"  Now  I  want  to  talk  to  you  men  for  a  few  min- 
utes. Some  of  you  were  here  last  spring  when  we 
made  Joe  Williams  doubly  happy  while  he  was  away 
getting  married,  by  doing  his  spring  plowing  by  power. 
You  have  seen  his  tractor  working  this  morning  in  the 
wheat  field,  and  you  can  all  judge  of  the  advantage  of 
the  use  of  power  by  the  acreage  he  cut  since  morning. 
Most  of  you  have  also  looked  at  the  new  concrete  build- 


GOOD  ROADS  241 

ings  that  Joe  Williams  has  erected  here  at  Brookside, 
and  you  must  all  admit  that  they  are  well  designed 
and  well-built,  permanent  buildings.  Of  course,  the 
cow  barn  is  not  quite  finished,  and  the  main  barn  and 
the  house  will  not  be  finished  until  fall,  but  the  work 
has  proceeded  far  enough  so  you  can  get  a  good  idea 
of  what  it's  going  to  mean  to  Joe  Williams  and  his 
goodwife  to  have  these  conveniences  to  work  with. 
Just  look  out  into  the  barnyard  there  at  that  array  of 
machinery;  it  looks  almost  like  machinery  hall  at  the 
State  Fair,  and  I  want  to  tell  you  men  that  there's 
not  a  piece  of  machinery  in  that  whole  lot  that  you 
should  not  have  on  your  own  farms,  and  you  can  get 
them  just  the  same  as  Joe  Williams  got  his,  if  you 
want  them.  It  doesn't  pay  to  work  with  poor  tools, 
any  more  than  it  pays  to  get  a  half  crop  where  you 
could  get  a  full  crop  if  you  managed  rightly.  Good 
tools  reduce  labor  and  increase  speed  so  that  you  can 
accomplish  a  great  deal  more  with  less  work  than  with 
a  poor  outfit.  Not  one  of  you  could  drive  by  that 
new  fence,  with  concrete  posts,  on  the  main  road 
this  morning,  without  realizing  the  permanent  nature 
of  it,  and  without  wishing  you  had  your  own  farm 
fenced  in  the  same  way. 

"  I  don't  suppose  you  men  appreciate  the  fact  that 
the  wire  fence  on  concrete  posts  costs  only  $2  per  rod, 
which  is  $1  a  rod  less  than  a  five-board-high  fence  with 
chestnut  posts  would  cost.  Did  you  ever  stop  to  figure 
up  how  many  actual  hours  you  spend  each  year  clean- 

16 


242  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

ing  out  your  fence  rows  ?  Compare  that  time  with  the 
labor  spent  on  producing  potatoes  and  figure  out  how 
many  more  bushels  you  could  have  raised  this  year 
if  you  had  spent  that  time  looking  after  them  rather 
than  looking  after  your  fences.  Speaking  of  that,  did 
you  ever  see  a  finer  field  of  corn  in  your  life  than  the 
old  pond  bottom  is  producing  this  year  ?  Do  you  know 
that  the  com  there  is  already  forty  per  cent,  higher 
than  the  com  in  the  adjoining  field,  and  that  they  are 
raising  four  stalks  to  the  hill  in  that  field  instead  of 
three  in  the  other  field — and  that's  a  thirty-three  per 
cent,  increase  right  there. 

"  Here's  a  hen  house  that  will  easily  accommodate 
five  hundred  laying  hens.  Do  you  ladies  appreciate 
what  that  will  mean  to  *  Aunt '  Bettie  Williams  this 
winter,  selling  eggs  when  all  your  hens  have  quit  lay- 
ing? I  want  you  ladies  while  you're  here  to  talk  with 
her;  she'll  be  glad  to  tell  you  about  her  plans.  If  any 
of  you  ever  saw  a  better  dairy  in  your  life,  I'd  like  to 
have  the  address  of  it.  You  can  see  what  it  would 
mean  to  you  to  have  such  a  dairy  house  of  your  own, 
and  the  whole  thing,  including  the  icehouse,  cream 
separator,  etc.,  only  cost  $450.  If  you  would  like  to 
get  a  similar  equipment  and  didn't  have  a  penny  and 
had  to  borrow  the  cost  from  the  First  National  Bank, 
and  pay  interest  at  the  rate  of  six  per  cent.,  it  would 
mean  only  $27  a  year,  or  the  wool  from  four  sheep.  I 
want  you  all  to  see  the  herd  of  Holstein  cows  before 
you  go  away  to-night.     One  cow  alone  is  averaging 


GOOD  ROADS  243 

twenty  quarts  per  day  from  pasture  land,  which  will 
mean  nearly  thirty  quarts  per  day  when  they  are  stabled 
and  the  feeding  can  be  regulated." 

At  the  mention  of  this  amount  of  milk,  all  the 
farmers  looked  at  each  other. 

"  How  many  cows  does  it  take  to  give  that  much 
milk?  "  asked  one  of  them. 

"  Just  one,"  replied  the  banker,  "  and,  besides  this 
one,  there  are  several  others  that  give  almost  as  much. 

"  While  I  wanted  you  to  inspect  the  new  buildings 
and  see  the  cattle  and  machinery — ^that  is  not  the  main 
reason  I  asked  you  to  come  to  Brookside  to-day.  We 
are  fortunate  to  have  with  us  Mr.  Barth,  of  the  Port- 
land Cement  Association,  whom  I  have  asked  to  speak 
to  you  briefly  on  the  advantages  of  good  roads." 

"  It  has  been  a  great  pleasure  for  me  to  be  per- 
mitted to  be  a  part  of  this  gathering  here  at  Brookside 
Parm,"  said  Mr.  Barth,  "  particularly  as  the  sub- 
ject I  have  to  discuss  bears  directly  on  the  possibility 
of  such  gatherings. 

"  Good  roads,  my  friends,  like  good  manners,  com- 
mend themselves  wherever  used.  It  is  very  noticeable 
along  improved  roads  the  tendency  of  the  farmers  to 
improve  the  appearance  of  their  homes  and  other  build- 
ings. In  fact,  the  presence  of  good  roads  seems  many 
times  to  stimulate  latent  self-respect  into  practical 
expression.  Social  institutions,  such  as  schools, 
churches  and  public  amusements,  are  more  or  less 
dependent  in  the  country  upon  road  conditions.    Think 


244  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

what  it  would  mean  to  you  to  have  a  consolidated 
school  where  the  more  advanced  grades  and  even  high 
school  subjects  could  be  taught,  a  building  containing 
an  auditorium,  where  you  could  meet  any  season  of 
the  year.  I  have  attended  many  concerts  and  even  lis- 
tened to  grand  opera  singers,  but  I  want  to  say  right 
here  I've  never  had  my  heart  stirred  by  music  before 
as  it  has  been  stirred  here  this  afternoon.  Think  of 
the  advantages  to  a  community  of  being  able  to  develop 
the  talent  displayed  here — what  it  would  mean  to  you 
people  yourselves  to  be  able  to  get  together,  especially 
in  the  winter,  and  sing.  What  a  great  benefit  and 
uplift  it  would  be  in  any  community. 

"  Now,  good  roads  make  consolidated  schools  pos- 
sible and  give  you  these  advantages. 

"  Take  the  benefits  you  now  derive  from  rural  free 
delivery  of  mail — the  happiness  and  home  comforts  it 
has  brought;  nothing  contributes  so  much  to  its  effi- 
ciency and  regularity  as  good  roads. 

"  It  is  a  matter  o^f  common  observation  that  when 
any  community  has  passed  from  a  condition  dominated 
by  bad  roads  to  a  condition  which  is  characterized  by 
good  roads,  land  values  in  that  community  advance. 
The  cost  of  hauling  farm  produce  to  market  is  prob- 
ably not  so  much  increased  by  the  grades  as  by  the  bad 
condition  of  the  road  surface.  The  trouble  with  unim- 
proved earth  roads  is  that  they  are  muddy  for  many 
months  in  the  year. 

"  Do  you  know  that  you  can  haul  six  times  as  much 


GOOD  ROADS  245 

over  a  good  concrete  road  surface  as  you  can  through 
average  mud  ?  Or  putting  it  another  way,  for  the  same 
load  hauled  one  mile  in  mud,  you  can  go  six  miles  over 
concrete. 

"  The  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  has  collected  much  data  that  shows  the 
waste  of  time  and  money  by  farmers  using  dirt  roads. 

"  Why  has  Joe  Williams  put  power  all  over  Brook- 
side  Farm?  I'll  tell  you  :  for  the  same  reason  that  you 
men  are  going  to  put  it  on  your  farms  next  year — not 
because  the  work  is  made  easier,  but  because  it  saves 
time — lets  one  man  do  easily  the  work  of  three  or 
four.  That's  why.  Do  you  want  to  spend  six  hours 
hauling  a  load  from  town  to  your  farm,  or  from  your 
farm  to  town,  when  you  can  do  it  in  one  hour  ?  That's 
what  they  mean  when  they  tell  you  about  conserving 
man  power.  Good  roads  and  only  good  roads  will  do 
that  for  you. 

"  Now,  just  a  moment  more  and  I  am  through. 
There  are  a  number  of  different  materials  for  the  con- 
struction of  road  beds,  but  in  the  speaker's  opinion 
none  that  will  give  the  universal  satisfaction  of  well- 
placed  concrete.  In  your  community,  roads  should  not 
cost  over  $1.75  to  $2  per  square  yard.  One  thing  I 
would  advise  you  not  to  do :  don't  make  your  roads  too 
narrow.  Remember  the  sides  should  have  well-built 
shoulders,  well  graded  away  from  the  sides  of  the  road 
bed.  Don't  use  less  than  a  width  of  twenty  feet — 
you'll  always  be  glad  you  had  the  foresight  to  make 
them  wide  enough.     I  thank  you." 


246  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"The  next  three  speakers,"  said  the  banker,  "  you 
all  know ;  they  are  your  County  Commissioners.  They 
are  modest  men,  every  one  of  them,  and  don't  like  to 
make  speeches,  so  I  have  promised  to  let  them  off  v^ith 
just  a  short  announcement.  I  believe  Mr.  Wilson  has 
something  to  say  to  you." 

"  This  has  been  the  most  pleasant  day  I  have  ever 
spent  in  our  county,  barring  none,"  said  the  speaker, 
by  way  of  introduction.  "If  any  one  had  told  me  six 
months  ago  that  we  would  have  a  farm  within  two 
miles  of  our  county  seat,  fenced  with  wire  and  perma- 
nent concrete  posts,  with  modem  permanent  fireproof 
buildings,  all  equipped  with  modern  power-driven 
machines  and  owned  by  one  of  the  happiest  farmers 
I  have  ever  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting,  I  should 
have  been  afraid  that  someone  would  have  awakened 
me,  for  I  would  have  been  sure  it  was  a  dream.  But 
right  here  on  Brookside  Farm  are  all  these  things,  and 
I'm  told  that  when  Joe  Williams  gets  through  with  his 
improvements,  there  will  be  even  more  than  I  have 
described.  What's  more,  his  books  already  show  that 
he  is  making  a  handsome  profit  from  his  fann  this 
year,  and  that,  my  friends,  doesn't  include  the  returns 
from  his  sand  and  gravel  pit.  It  has  been  fortunate 
for  him  that  he  had  this  sand  pit  on  his  farm,  but  aside 
from  that,  the  farm  itself  shows  that  it's  going  to  pay 
a  big  return  on  the  investment.  Of  course,  the  sand 
and  gravel  pit  has  helped  him  in  getting  his  equipment 
quickly,  and  in  that  he  has  been  fortunate.  But  the 
thing  I  want  to  say  to  you  men  is  that  the  Commis- 


GOOD  ROADS  247 

sioncrs  are  in  hearty  accord  with  the  statements  just 
made  by  Mr,  Barth,  regarding  concrete  roads.  We  feel 
that  you  are  entitled  to  better  roads,  that  the  county 
will  be  greatly  benefited  by  the  building  of  these  roads. 
Of  course,  the  state  will  pay  half  the  cost  of  these 
roads,  the  county  one-fourth,  but  the  balance  of  the 
cost  will  have  to  be  borne  by  you.  I  know  there  is  no 
one  here  who  wants  to  spend  six  or  even  three  hours 
in  hauling  a  load  the  distance  he  ought  to  be  able  to 
haul  it  in  one  hour  if  the  roads  were  in  good  shape. 
We're  going  to  advertise  for  a  bond  issue  for  ten  miles 
of  new  concrete  roads,  six  miles  of  the  road  will  be 
from  the  new  railroad  to  town,  going  by  this  farm,  and 
as  soon  as  this  is  built  we  will  extend  this  road  and 
others  leading  out  of  the  town.  One  of  our  principal 
reasons  for  selecting  this  particular  road  to  start  with 
is  the  fact  that  we  need  sand  and  gravel  for  the  con- 
struction of  all  these  roads,  and,  as  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  this  sand  and  gravel  will  have  to^  come  from 
the  Williams  pit,  it  will  save  a  great  deal  of  cost  in 
hauling  by  having  good  roads  for  the  distribution  of 
the  material.  I'd  like  to  know  if  there's  a  man  present 
who  is  not  in  favor  of  building  these  concrete  roads. 
If  there  is,  I'd  like  to  have  him  stand  up  and  tell  us 
why  he  is  against  it." 

After  a  moment's  pause,  during  which  he  looked 
from  one  to  the  other,  Mr.  Wilson  continued : 

"  I'm  glad  to  see  it's  unanimous,  and  that  the  Com- 
missioners have  your  hearty  support.  There's  just  one 
other  thing  I'd  like  to  say  and  that  is  that  the  First 


248  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

National  Bank  has  agreed  to  subscribe  for  the  bond 
issue  and  loan  the  county  all  the  money  we  need  to 
build  these  roads,  and  you'll  have  to  thank  John  White 
and  his  '  Constructive  Banking '  idea  for  that.  I'm 
sure  you'll  all  be  greatly  benefited,  as  it  will  bring  your 
farms  much  nearer  the  market." 

"  Three  cheers  for  concrete  roads,"  shouted  Alex 
Wallace. 

The  cheers  were  given  with  great  applause, 

"  That's  fine,"  said  John  White  as  he  arose,  "  but 
the  improvement  of  the  roads  is  only  the  beginning  of 
the  work  we  should  do.  Each  man  should  plan  to 
improve  his  own  farm,  and  what's  more  each  acre 
should  be  made  to  produce  the  maximum  amount. 
First  put  on  plenty  of  manure,  second  put  on  plenty  of 
manure,  and  third  put  on  plenty  of  manure — that's 
what  makes  the  crops. 

"  Now,  I  have  an  announcement  I  want  to  make. 
I  have  made  arrangements  with  the  State  Fair  Com- 
missioners to  establish  four  prizes  to  be  awarded  each 
year  at  the  Fair.  The  first  prize  is  a  grain  prize  of 
$25,  and  goes  to  the  farmer  whose  grain  produces  the 
largest  yield  per  acre  of  ground  planted.  The  second, 
a  prize  of  $25  to  the  farm  that  earns  the  biggest  rev- 
enue during  the  year  on  the  capital  invested,  the  third 
is  a  prize  of  $25  for  you  ladies  and  goes  to  the  farm 
whose  dairy  earns  the  most  money  per  cow,  and  the 
fourth  is  a  prize  of  $25  to  the  farm  whose  poultry 
earns  the  greast  amount  per  hen.  There  will  be  a  set 
of  rules  governing  all  these  prizes.     No  farm  will  be 


GOOD  ROADS  249 

eligible  to  compete  for  an}'  of  them  that  has  not  a 
regular  system  of  cost  accounting  and  whose  books 
cannot  be  examined  and  audited  by  a  public  auditor. 
All  book  accounts  must  run  from  March  first  of  one 
year  to  March  first  of  the  succeeding  year.  I  believe 
Mr.  Barth  has  something  further  to  say  to  you." 

Mr.  Barth  arose  and  said: 

*'  Gentlemen,  I  represent,  as  you  know,  the  manu- 
facturers of  Portland  cement,  and  I  am  authorized  to 
say  that  the  Association  has  also  added  a  prize  of  $25 
to  be  awarded  each  year  in  this  county  tO'  the  farmer 
who  uses  the  most  concrete  on  his  farm  during  the 
year — the  County  Commissioners  to  be  the  judges  in 
each  case." 

Whereupon  John  White  arose  and  continued: 

"  Now,  before  making  a  visit  around  the  farm,  I 
wish  to  call  your  attention  to  a  couple  of  things  I'd 
like  you  to  be  sure  and  see.  First,  take  a  look  at  the 
running  water,  especially  the  shower  bath.  You  men 
have  no  idea  how  it  freshens  one  up  at  the  end  of  the 
day  to  take  a  shower.  WTiy  let  the  golfer  alone  enjoy 
all  the  good  things  when  you  need  them  more?  You 
should  all  have  running  water  and  a  shower.  I  also 
want  to  call  to  your  attention  that  when  the  ditch  was 
dug  to  put  in  this  water  system,  the  ground  was  so 
hard  that  it  was  blasted  out  with  dynamite.  If  you  will 
walk  out  to  the  orchard  back  of  the  smokehouse,  and 
take  a  look  at  the  field  of  oats,  you  will  see  a  strip  of 
oats  more  than  a  foot  higher  than  the  surrounding 
oats  and  eight  feet  wide  nmning  across  the  field — that 


250  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

will  show  you  what  dynamite  does  to  the  land.  I  would 
like  you  to  go  to  the  edge  of  the  field  and  take  a  look 
at  those  oats.  Most  of  us  think  that  dynamite  is  used 
for  tearing  things  apart,  but  here  is  a  case  where  it  is 
building  up  the  land  and  making  it  produce  greater 
crops.  You  farmers  who  are  going  to  exhibit  oats 
at  the  State  Fair  this  year  better  look  out  for  your 
laurels,  because  I  think  Joe  Williams  has  the  prize  win- 
ner right  there  on  that  piece  of  dynamited  land." 

The  afternoon  was  spent  in  examining  the  buildings 
and  new  machinery,  and  looking  over  the  plans  for  the 
new  house  and  barn.  Bob  had  almost  lost  his  voice 
by  the  time  the  last  of  the  farmers  had  gone  explaining 
to  them  the  details  of  the  work. 

There  was  not  a  prouder  or  happier  boy  in  the 
state  of  Pennsylvania  that  night  than  Bob  Williams, 
for  he  felt  that  Brookside  Farm  was  destined  to  be  a 
great  success  and  he  had  been  a  part  of  the  redemption 
of  the  old  homestead. 

They  sat  out  on  the  porch  in  the  twilight.  While 
Tony  played  on  his  flute  they  sang  many  songs.  They 
were  surprised  how  much  talent  they  had  in  their  own 
family  circle.  Aunt  Bettie  and  Edith  both  had  good 
soprano  voices  and  Ruth  a  fair  contralto.  Bob  sang 
tenor  and  his  uncle  bass.  It  was  Maria,  though,  that 
surprised  them  with  a  remarkable  good  mezzo-soprano. 

They  were  all  too  happy  to  sleep,  so  they  sang  song 
after  song  until  the  clock  struck  eleven.  Then  they 
sang  "  The  Happy  Farmer  "  song  again  and  went  to 
bed.    It  had  been  a  great  day  for  Brookside  Farm. 


XXI 

FILLING  THE  SILO 

While  Bob  and  Tony  (helped  out  by  the  neigh- 
bors' boys  who  came  to  Brookside  Farm  to  learn  the 
handling  of  cement)  carried  on  the  building  work,  Mr. 
Brady,  the  contractor,  made  rapid  strides  with  the  con- 
struction of  the  house  and  barn. 

Joe  Williams  looked  after  the  crops  with  occasional 
help  from  Bob  and  Tony.  Ruth,  who  found  the  great- 
est pleasure  in  the  fields,  deserted  Bob  and  his  con- 
crete mixer  entirely  for  her  uncle's  machinery.  She 
soon  learned  to  handle  the  big  tractor  and  used  it  to 
cut  the  entire  field  of  oats.  After  acquiring  the  knack 
of  using  a  pitchfork,  it  was  surprising  the  work  she  did 
and  thrived  on.  She  had  one  vanity,  however — that 
of  having  her  picture  taken  nearly  every  day  in  her 
farmerette  clothes.  Edith,  who  took  these  pictures, 
declared  Ruth  spent  her  nights  thinking  up  some  new 
poses  for  the  next  day's  pictures.  But  they  were  a 
happy  family,  and  many  a  summer  evening,  when  they 
all  seemed  too  tired  to  move,  Tony's  sudden  appear- 
ance with  his  flute  would  start  them  all  singing  and 
cause  them  to  forget  their  bodily  fatigue. 

"  The  corn  in  the  back  field  looks  as  though  it's 
about  ready  for  the  silo,  Bob,"  said  his  uncle  one 
morning,  "  and  I  think  we  had  better  arrange  to  start 
filling  it  to-morrow.    It  will  give  us  a  chance  to  try  out 

251 


252  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

our  new  machinery.  It's  surprising  how  large  the  com 
in  the  new  bottom  has  grown — I  never  would  have 
believed  it  myself  without  having  actually  seen  it." 

"  Don't  you  think,  Uncle  Joe,  we  should  leave  a 
small  section  of  the  best  of  it  standing,  say  three  or 
four  acres,  for  seed  corn?  We  could  get  $5  a  bushel 
next  spring  for  good  seed  corn,  besides  having  our 
own.  Then,  too,  we  ought  tO'  have  some  to  exhibit  at 
the  Fair.  I  don't  think  there'll  be  any  com  like  it  in 
the  county." 

"  That's  so,"  said  his  uncle.  "  It  would  be  well  to 
do  that.  We  could  exhibit  some  on  the  stalks,  too,  and 
then  people  could  see  how  fertile  Brookside  Farm  is. 
I've  arranged  to  put  on  four  men  and  three  teams  to 
help  us,  Bob,  because  it  will  take  seven  to  handle  the 
outfit.  It  ought  not  to  take  us  more  than  three  days 
to  do  the  work — that  would  mean  fifty  tons  per  day 
to  haul  and  three  horses  on  the  binder." 

So  the  next  morning  at  seven  o'clock  the  new  corn 
binder  was  started  in  the  bottom  field  and  by  the  end 
of  the  third  day  the  corn  was  all  harvested,  cut  to 
three-quarter  inch  length  and  placed  in  the  silo,  with- 
out a  break  or  delay. 

"  There's  one  advantage  in  having  the  right  kind 
of  machinery  to  do  a  job.  Uncle  Joe,"  said  Bob  admir- 
ingly; "  you  can  cut  the  corn  when  it's  just  right.  If 
we  had  let  the  com  stand  a  few  days  longer,  it  would 
not  have  been  as  good  as  it  is  now.  We'll  probably 
have  the  best  ensilage  that  will  be  put  up  this  year." 


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FILLING  THE  SILO  253 

"  What  rate  do  you  think  we  should  charge  for  the 
corn  binder  and  ensilage  cutter,  Bob?"  asked  his 
uncle.    "  Some  of  the  neighbors  want  toi  hire  it." 

"  Why  not  use  twenty  acres  as  a  basis  and  charge 
the  same  as  we  decided  for  the  other  tools," 

"  That  looks  pretty  high,"  said  his  uncle. 

"  No  higher  than  it  should  be,"  replied  Bob.  "  If 
we  kept  the  machines  ourselves,  Uncle  Joe,  they  would 
be  in  good  shape  for  five  years,  but  you  know  when 
you  rent  a  machine  out,  they  don't  take  care  of  it  as 
we  do,  so  I  think  we  ought  to  charge  one  per  cent,  of 
the  cost  of  the  two  machines  per  acre  to  each  farmer 
who  rents  it." 

"  But  if  you  rent  it  to  five  farmers  in  a  season.  Bob, 
we  would  pay  for  the  machines  in  one  year  and  still 
own  the  machines.  Isn't  that  a  pretty  high  price?" 
asked  his  uncle. 

"  But  wouldn't  the  machines  have  done  five  years' 
rated  work.  Uncle  Joe?  Do  you  know  anybody  who 
is  renting  them  cheaper  ?  " 

"  It  might  be  cheaper  for  some  fellows  to  club 
together  and  get  the  machines,"  said  his  uncle. 

"  Well,  then  let  them  do  it  and  in  the  meantime 
our  machines  won't  be  worn  out,"  said  Bob. 

"  All  right,"  said  his  uncle ;  "  Billie  Waterson  put 
up  a  silo  and  wants  to  borrow  our  machines." 

"  I'd  make  him  agree  to  return  them  in  good  condi- 
tion and  pay  for  all  repairs  necessary,"  said  Bob;  "don't 
forget  that." 


254  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"All  right,"  said  his  uncle;  "I  think  I'll  let  him 
have  it  on  that  basis." 

As  soon  as  the  silo  had  been  filled,  the  apple-pick- 
ing was  started.  They  had  been  in  a  quandary  to 
know  just  how  to  get  this  crop  harvested,  as  the  trees 
were  exceptionally  full  of  well-developed  apples. 
Tony  finally  solved  the  problem  by  saying  he  could 
send  to  Pittsburgh  and  get  three  or  four  Italian  boys 
who  would  be  willing  to  work  for  a  dollar  or  two  a  day, 
so  they  were  engaged.  All  the  apples  were  carefully 
picked  by  hand  and  assorted  in  sizes,  using  a  device 
designed  by  Tony,  where  the  apples  were  allowed  to 
roll  slowly  down  a  trough.  As  the  apples  dropped 
through  the  hole  in,  the  bottom  of  the  grading  trough, 
they  rolled  down  other  chutes  tO'  the  waiting  crates. 

"  I  think  we'll  sell  our  apples  this  year.  Bob,  by  the 
piece  instead  of  by  the  bushel,"  said  his  aunt,  after 
inspecting  the  first  that  were  picked.  "  They  look  so 
fine  I  think  we  can  easily  get  four  to  five  cents  each  for 
them  if  they  are  put  in  nice  cartons  and  each  apple 
wrapped  in  papier.  We  can  put  our  label  on  them  and 
after  we  have  marketed  them  for  a  year  or  two, 
people  will  write  in  for  their  supply.  I  know  some 
firms  in  the  mountains  of  Virginia  who  are  doing  that 
now  and  selling  all  they  can  raise.  We  can  keep  the 
first  and  second  grade  apples  for  sale  and  the  third 
for  our  ®wn  use  and  for  cider  making.  I  think  perhaps 
the  three  best  sellers  would  be  the  Winesaps,  Black 
Twigs  and  Albemarle  Pippins.  They  look  exceptionally 


FILLING  THE  SILO  255 

fine.    I  don't  think  I  ever  saw  nicer  apples  than  ours. 

When  they  had  the  apples  all  gathered,  they  found 
they  had  500  bushels  of  first  and  second  grade  apples  of 
the  three  varieties  and  63  bushels  of  the  third  grade. 
Of  these  latter  they  kept  13  bushels  for  their  own  use, 
and  after  making  ten  barrels  of  cider,  they  offered  the 
rest  for  sale  in  town,  where  they  obtained  50  cents 
per  bushel  for  them. 

"  It  will  be  better,  Joe,  to  sell  them  off  at  a  cheap 
price  rather  than  keep  them  and  sort  them  all  winter. 
Besides,  we  don't  want  to  market  any  but  the  best 
under  the  name  of  the  farm." 

"  We  must  hurry  the  work,  Bob,  on  the  root  cellar 
to  take  care  of  our  apples,"  said  his  aunt. 

"  All  right.  Aunt  Bettie,"  he  replied ;  "  it's  nearly 
finished." 

A  few  days  after  the  cider-making  had  been  com- 
pleted, the  new  milking  machine  arrived.  The  agent 
for  the  manufacturers  sent  a  man  to  show  Bob  how 
to  erect  it.  When  the  machine  had  been  completed  and 
tried  out,  they  tested  it  out  that  night.  Bob  found  he 
could  milk  his  ten  best  cows  in  just  a  half  hour,  or  half 
the  time  it  had  taken  before  to  milk  by  hand. 

Milking  by  power  certainly  was  a  great  idea  and 
the  cows  didn't  seem  to  object  at  all  to  the  change.  Bob 
and  his  aunt  were  sure  now  that  they  had  not  made  any 
miscalculations  on  designing  the  dairy  barn  for  a 
twenty-cow  herd ;  they  felt  they  would  be  able  to  take 
care  of  that  number  easily. 


256  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  Let's  go  hunting,  Bob,"  said  Ruth  one  morning 
at  breakfast  a  few  days  later.  "  I'd  Hke  to  shoot  some 
real  game." 

"  All  right,"  said  Bob,  "  but  we've  only  one  gun 
between  us.  You  see,  I  don't  own  a  gun  and  Uncle 
Joe  has  only  one." 

"  Oh,  that  reminds  me,"  said  his  uncle,  "  John 
White  gave  me  a  package  yesterday  to  bring  out 
for  you  and  I  was  so  busy  I  forgot  and  left  it  in  the 
automobile  last  night.  I  guess  it's  still  there,"  and  he 
winked  at  Edith  and  Ruth  across  the  table. 

Bob  got  up  and  went  to  the  bam  and  came  back 
a  few  minutes  later  with  a  long  package.  When 
opened,  he  found,  much  to  his  delight,  it  contained  a 
double-barreled  hammerless  shotgun.  Tied  to  the  gun 
was  a  card  on  which  was  written :  "  For  my  friend,  Bob 
Williams,  with  best  wishes,  from  John  White." 

"  That  was  splendid  of  him  to  buy  me  a  gun.  I 
wonder  why  he  did  it,"  exclaimed  Bob. 

"  Well,  I  guess  he  likes  you,  Bob,"  said  his  uncle, 
"  and  he  feels  you're  helping  to  do  a  good  work  in  the 
county,  so  he  just  bought  it  for  you.  It's  the  same 
gauge  as  mine,  so  you  can  use  some  of  my  shells, 
although  he  gave  me  two  boxes  of  shells  already 
loaded,"  and  he  handed  over  the  shells  to  Bob.  "  And 
this  is  your  belt,"  he  said  laughing,  and  he  handed  Bob 
a  very  fine  belt  of  buff  leather. 

"  We  certainly  can  go  hunting  to-day,  Ruth,"  said 
Bob,  delighted  with  his  new  present,  and  as  soon  as  the 


FILLING  THE  SILO  257 

milking  and  chores  were  done,  they  set  off  back  of  the 
pond  and  through  the  woods,  back  of  the  "  Old  Round 
Top." 

Bob  had  every  confidence  in  Ruth's  ability  to  shoot 
and  did  not  fear  an  accident  from  her  gun.  While 
Ruth  couldn't  do  many  things,  shooting  was  not  one 
of  them,  for  she  had  proven  herself  to  be  an  expert 
shot  on  a  number  of  occasions.  When  they  reached 
the  woods  they  separated  and  Bob  went  up»  the  ravine 
while  Ruth  kept  along  the  hillsides.  They  had  not 
gone  very  far  when  a  chicken  hawk  flew  over  the 
ravine  just  ahead  of  Bob  and  alighted  on  a  tree.  Here 
was  an  unexpected  opportunty  of  making  a  good  shot 
and  bringing  home  a  trophy  worth  while.  So  he  took 
careful  aim  and  fired,  but  the  distance  was  either  too 
great  or  the  aim  was  bad,  for  the  hawk  flew  away.  He 
continued  up  the  ravine  until  he  came  to  a  line  fence 
which  he  followed  up  the  hill  and  joined  Ruth,  neither 
one  having  had  an  opportunity  of  shooting  at  any  other 
game. 

"Too  bad  you  missed  him.  Bob;  he  was  such  a 
fine-looking  specimen." 

"  Did  you  see  it,  Ruth  ?  " 

"  Yes,  it  ran  alongside  of  me." 

"  What  do  you  mean,  it  ran  alongside  of  you?  " 
asked  Bob;  "  the  last  I  saw  of  it,  it  was  flying." 

"Flying!"  exclaimed  Ruth.  "Why  it  ran  along 
the  ground  just  like  a  dog  and  had  a  big  red  bushy 
tail.    I  was  sitting  on  a  stump  taking  a  rest  when  you 

17 


258  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

fired.  It  came  sneaking  up  the  hill  toward  me,  all  the 
while  watching  you.  It  came  up  so  close  I  could  have 
put  my  hand  out  and  touched  it.  It  stopped  right  in 
front  of  me  for  a  minute  or  two  and  then  ran  off  up 
over  the  ridge." 

"  What  are  you  talking  about  Ruth?  "  asked  Bob. 
"  The  thing  I  shot  at  was  a  hawk  and  it  flew  through 
the  air.    It  didn't  run  along  the  ground  at  all." 

"  Oh,"  said  Ruth,  "  what  I  saw  must  have  been  a 
fox,  and,  Bob,  it  stood  just  in  front  of  me  for  a  minute 
or  two  before  it  turned  and  went  away." 

"If  that's  so  why  didn't  you  shoot  it?  "  demanded 
Bob. 

"  I  was  too  excited.  I  never  thought  about  shoot- 
ing  it." 

"  Well,  you  lost  an  opportunity  of  a  lifetime. 
You'll  probably  never  get  a  chance  to  get  a  fox  as  easy 
as  that  again." 

"  Please  don't  tell  the  folks  at  the  house,  Bob,  that 
I  had  the  buck  fever — they'd  never  get  through  teas- 
ing me  if  they  knew  I'd  let  such  a  chance  go  by." 

They  hunted  all  the  rest  of  the  morning,  but  got 
only  three  grey  squirrels,  of  which  Ruth  shot  two. 

A  few  days  later,  as  Ruth  was  crossing  the  oat  stub- 
bles, she  saw  a  small  black  and  white  animal  skipping 
along  through  the  stubbles  just  ahead  of  her.  Think- 
ing it  was  a  kitten  that  had  strayed  from  the  house,  she 
rushed  after  it  and  was  almost  ready  to  pick  it  up  when 


FILLING  THE  SLLO  259 

she  suddenly  changed  her  mind  and  started  for  the 
house  as  fast  as  she  could  go. 

The  dinner  bell  had  rung  and  as  Ruth  came  around 
the  side  of  the  house,  her  aimt  and  Edith,  who  were 
sitting  on  the  porch,  shouted  in  unison: 

"  Go  'way !  Go  'way !  Go  out  to  the  barn.  Where' ve 
you  been  ?  " 

''  I  tried  to  pick  up  a  kitten  out  in  the  oat  stubbles," 
confessed  Ruth. 

"  Well,  I  guess  you  did,  all  right,"  said  her  aunt. 
"  Wait  until  Edith  gets  you  some  clothes  and  then  go 
out  to  the  old  icehouse  and  change  them.  Leave  the 
clothes  you  have  on  out  there,  because  you'll  never  be 
able  to  wear  them  again." 

Ruth,  who  had  been  trying  hard  to  control  her 
feelings,  now  broke  into  sobs,  for  she  had  only  one 
farmerette  suit  and  this  meant  the  loss  of  it. 

"  It  was  such  an  innocent-looking  kitten,  too,"  she 
said. 

"  Innocent  nothing,"  said  her  uncle,  who  came  in 
from  the  barn  just  then.  "  Don't  you  know  a  skunk 
when  you  see  one?  " 

"  No,  I  didn't,  but  I  will  next  time,"  confessed 
Ruth. 

Edith  then  appeared  with  the  necessary  garments 
and  took  them  to  the  icehouse  where  she  left  them  and 
where  Ruth  later  went  and  made  the  change.  That 
afternoon  she  was  particularly  depressed,  for  she  had 
to  wear  a  dress  instead  of  her  favorite  breeches,  which 


260  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

seemed  to  depress  her  more  and  more  as  the  afternoon 
wore  on.  She  gladly  welcomed  the  appearance  of 
Eddie  Brown  and  Herbert  Potter,  who  drove  out  to 
see  the  girls  and  to  tell  them  they  were  about  to  leave 
to  go  to  school. 

Bob  was  now  working  on  a  new  piggery,  which  he 
and  Tony  had  well  under  way.  The  pens  were  to 
accommodate  thirty  pigs,  and  were  built  so  they  could 
be  extended  from  time  to  time,  as  they  might  decide. 

In  addition  to  the  pen,  they  were  constructing  a 
large  feeding  floor,  and  now  that  work  on  the  main 
barn  had  been  completed,  Mr.  Brady  was  pushing  the 
work  on  the  new  house,  which  was  progressing  rapidly. 
Bob  was  sorry  it  was  necessary  to  build  this  house  so 
quickly,  as  he  would  have  liked  to  work  out  all  the 
details  for  it,  but  he  had  to  be  satisfied  with  the  devel- 
opment of  the  plan,  which  he  and  his  Aunt  Bettie 
worked  out  after  a  great  many  conferences. 

The  house  was  to  face  the  south  and  have  a  long 
porch  running  the  full  width  of  the  front  with  a  return 
on  the  west  end.  The  south  front  was  to  face  the 
flower  garden  and  the  west  front  would  connect  with 
the  drive,  while  the  back  of  the  house  would  open  into 
the  general  barnyard. 

They  planned  to  build  the  woodshed  and  laundry 
between  the  new  house  and  the  dairy,  with  a  heating 
system  and  the  fuel  in  the  cellar.  This  would  pre- 
vent the  cellar  of  the  main  house  becoming  too  warm 
for  storage  purposes.    They  had  also  decided  to  build 


FILLING  THE  SILO  261 

the  new  machinery  house  to  take  care  of  the  imple- 
ments with  a  good-size  tool  shed  adjoining — also  a 
garage  large  enough  to  accommodate  an  automobile 
and  two  motor  trucks  and  an  oil  house  at  one  end. 
They  were  also  at  work  on  fifty  concrete  apiaries  for 
the  protection  of  the  bees.  The  septic  tank  was  being 
built  by  Mr.  Brady  in  connection  with  the  house,  but 
the  root  cellar,  corn  crib,  manure  pit  and  the  sheep 
barn  were  yet  to  be  completed  by  Bob  and  Tony;  but 
the  plans  for  them  had  already  been  worked  out. 

It  had  also  been  decided  that  they  should  build  a 
sixty-foot  greenhouse  for  the  growing  of  cucumbers 
and  other  vegetables  under  glass,  which  they  would 
try  out  that  winter — also  a  half  dozen  cold  frames  and 
a  small  mushroom  cellar. 

The  work  on  the  piggery  was  to  include  a  hog-dip- 
ping vat,  a  platform  and  scalding  vat.  A  garbage 
burner  had  been  installed  at  the  rear  of  the  dairy  not 
far  from  the  woodshed. 

The  plans  for  the  house  included  a  cistern  for  the 
collection  of  rain  water  in  the  cellar  under  the  laundry. 
After  these  had  been  planned,  they  decided  that  the 
old  brick  smokehouse  was  in  a  bad  location  and  too  far 
away  from  the  house.  So  this  was  abandoned  and  a 
new  smokehouse  added  in  the  rear  of  the  dairy 
buildings. 

In  order  to  get  all  the  work  completed,  they  had 
found   it   necessary   to  let   Mr.    Brady  build  Tony's 


262  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

bungalow  also,  although  they  would  much  have  pre- 
ferred to  do  this  work  themselves. 

They  found  that  even  with  this  help,  they  would 
have  to  let  a  number  of  things  go  over  until  the  next 
year — among  them  a  bridge  to  carry  the  lane  over  the 
new  ditch,  and  some  ornamental  concrete  work  in  con- 
nection with  the  garden. 

They  could  work  much  faster  now  than  formerly, 
as  many  of  the  neighbors'  boys  were  available  for  a 
few  days  at  a  time,  and  even  though  the  fall  weather 
was  upon  them,  they  hoped  to  get  all  their  concrete 
work  done  before  the  December  snows. 


XXII 


THE  FAIR 


The  State  Fair,  an  event  that  had  long  been  antici- 
pated at  Brookside  Farm,  was  scheduled  to  be  held  on 
September  tenth  that  year.  The  summer  was  not  more 
than  half  over  before  Joe  Williams  decided  that  he  had, 
if  any  thing,  a  little  better  crops  and  stock  than  any 
other  man  in  the  county ;  in  fact,  he  was  beginning  to 
"  feel  his  oats,"  as  the  saying  went,  and  wanted  to 
show  his  neighbors  just  how  good  a  farmer  he  really 
was,  so  he  took  a  great  deal  of  pride  in  getting  his 
products  ready  to  exhibit.  , 

First  he  decided  to  enter  his  team  of  Belgian  mares 
and  their  two  handsome  young  colts;  then  his  majesty, 
King  Pontiac,  the  head  of  the  Holstein  herd,  and  four 
of  his  best  Holstein  cows;  then  he  selected  two  hand- 
some Holstein  bulls  and  two  heifer  calves;  two  Berk- 
shire sows,  one  with  a  litter  of  ten  fine  pigs,  together 
with  two  young  Berkshire  shoats;  then  Jerry,  the 
Southdown  ram,  and  the  best  two  Southdown  ewes  and 
two  good  lambs;  two  breeding  pens  of  white  Leg- 
horns and  two  of  white  Plymouth  rocks  were  then 
selected ;  also  the  best  cock  and  hen  and  the  best  cock- 
erel and  pullet,  together  with  a  dozen  eggs  laid  by  each 
breed.  Then  he  picked  out  two  bushels  of  the  finest 
corn  that  had  been  raised  in  the  bottom  land  and  two 

£63 


264  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

bushels  of  oats  and  a  dozen  each  of  the  three  varieties 
of  apples,  and  two  bushels  of  potatoes.  Then  Bob 
selected  two  pounds  of  his  best  comb  honey  and  Aunt 
Bettie  and  the  girls  picked  out  five  dozen  of  their 
choice  jellies  and  jams,  and  on  the  opening  day  of 
the  fair  this  exhibition  was  taken  to  the  fair  grounds. 

All  work  on  the  buildings  was  stopped  and  a  num- 
ber of  neighbor  boys  were  engaged  to  help  to  take 
the  exhibit  to  town. 

All  the  cattle  had  been  carefully  groomed  for  sev- 
eral weeks  in  advance  and  were  in  fine  shape  for  exhi- 
bition purposes,  and  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention. 
'  When  the  awards  had  been  made,  Joe  Williams 
found  he  had  won  first  prize  in  every  class  he  had 
exhibited  and  iia  a  number  he  had  also  carried  off  sec- 
ond prizes  and  sweepstakes,  while  Bob  won  first  prize 
with  his  honey  and  Aunt  Bettie  five  first  prizes  and 
four  second  prizes  on  her  jellies  and  jams. 

As  soon  as  the  exhibits  were  in  place,  Joe  Williams 
went  from  one  exhibit  to  another  and  fastened  white 
cards  printed  in  dark  blue  letters,  containing  the  fol- 
lowing words :  "  Grown  on  Brookside  Farm,  Joseph 
Williams,  Proprietor." 

"  Say,  Bob,"  said  Alex  Wallace,  "  if  your  Uncle 
Joe  had  won  a  few  prizes  more  there  would  not  have 
been  any  left  for  the  rest  of  us." 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know,"  said  Bob,  "  there  were  lots  of 
other  prizes  awarded  besides  those  Uncle  Joe  got.  How 
many  did  you  win  ?  " 


THE  FAIR  265 

"  We  got  first  and  second  on  our  Jersey  cattle 
and  first  on  our  Clydesdale  mare  and  colt,  but  your 
Uncle  Joe  cleaned  up  all  the  prizes  on  the  grain." 

"  Well,  next  year  perhaps  you  can  win  them." 

"  We're  going  to  try  for  them  all  right.  Father 
says  Joe  Williams  needn't  think  he  can  come  back  here 
from  the  West  and  annex  the  State  Fair.  If  he  wins 
next  year,  he'll  have  to  go  some.  We  bought  a  tractor 
to-day.  Bob." 

"  That's  fine,  Alex.  When  are  you  going  to  start 
your  silo?  " 

"  Oh,  pretty  soon,"  he  replied  as  he  left  Bob. 

Thursday  was  the  big  day  of  the  Fair,  and  Bob,  as 
a  special  reward  for  his  services,  was  permitted  to  go  to 
the  Fair  each  day;  in  fact,  much  of  the  care  of  the 
stock  depended  on  him,  although  he  was  unable  to  stay 
in  town  overnight  as  he  would  have  liked  on  account  of 
taking  care  of  the  milking. 

Whom  should  he  meet  early  Thursday  morning,  as 
he  was  coming  from  milking  his  cows  that  were  on 
exhibition,  but  his  father. 

"  Why,  hello.  Bob.  I  was  just  looking  for  you. 
My,  how  you  have  grown.  Fd  scarcely  have  known 
you." 

"  How-do-you-do,  dad ;  how'd  you  like  to  have  a 
drink  of  good  fresh  milk  ?  '  Grown  on  Brookside 
Farm,  Joseph  Williams,  Proprietor,'  "  he  laughed. 

"  Fine,"  said  his  father,  whereupon  Bob  handed 
him  a  glass  of  rich  milk. 


266  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  Not  as  good  as  Gurney's,  but  pretty  good  at  that," 
remarked  his  father.  "I've  heard  about  the  prizes 
you  and  your  Uncle  Joe  have  won  and  couldn't  help  but 
come  in  and  look  you  over,  even  though  I'm  very  busy 
and  it  was  hard  to  get  away." 

"  How  did  you  leave  mother  and  the  rest  of  the 
family?  "  was  Bob's  next  inquiry. 

"  Oh,  they're  all  well,  Bob.  Your  mother  was 
sorry  she  couldn't  come  with  me,  but  it  was  hard  for 
her  to  get  away.    How  do  you  like  farming?  " 

"  Oh,  I  like  farming"  very  much  and  I  want  to  be 
a  farmer.  You  know,  there  are  lots  of  interesting 
things  to  do  on  a  farm,  dad." 

"  By  the  way,  I  met  a  friend  of  yours,  Bob — John 
White,  of  the  First  National  Bank.  He  was  telling  me 
all  about  the  things  you've  been  doing  on  the  old  place. 
He  says  you  even  have  a  name  for  it." 

"  Why,  yes ;  didn't  you  see  it  on  the  exhibits  ? 
We're  going  to  sell  everything  under  a  trade  name, 
just  like  thread  and  other  things  that  have  names."   ♦ 

"  How  much  do  you  weigh  now.  Bob?  " 

"  I  weight  137  pounds ;  that  is  2^  pounds  more  than 
when  I  went  to  the  farm,  and  I'm  two  inches  taller." 

"  I  should  say  you  have  been  growing,  Bob.  Has 
your  Uncle  Joe  paid  you  yet  for  your  year's  work  ? 

"  No,  he  hasn't ;  but  he  will  when  he  gets  'round 
to  it.    You  see,  he  hasn't  sold  his  crops  yet." 

"  How  much  do  you  think  he  will  give  you.  Bob?  " 

"  I  don't  know,  but  I  think  he'll  be  fair.    Aunt  Bet- 


THE  FAIR  267 

tie  will  see  to  that,  if  he  should  forget  it  himself.  If 
you  come  along  with  me,  I'll  show  you  how  many  prize 
winners  we  have,"  and  he  proudly  took  his  father  from 
one  exhibit  to  another,  all  the  time  telling  him  of  the 
permanent  improvements  they  were  making  on  the 
farm. 

"  You  must  come  out  to  the  farm  to-night  and  see 
the  place.  You  have  no  idea  what  it  looks  like  with 
the  old  barn  gone  and  nearly  all  the  concrete  buildings 
up.  You  can  see  the  big  silo  ever  so  far  away.  Of 
course,  the  biggest  change  is  the  taking  away  of  the 
pond.  Just  look  at  that  corn  standing  there — that's 
what  we  got  out  of  the  old  pond  where  you  taught  me 
to  swim.  We  got  over  lo  tons  per  acre  of  ensilage, 
after  leaving  several  hundred  bushels  from  the  field 
from  which  to  select  our  seed.  You  can  see  for  your- 
self what  fine-looking  corn  it  is.  Just  look  at  those  big 
ears  there,  and  all  that  fifteen  acres  raised  before  was 
muskrats  and  turtles." 

"  You're  right,  Bob,  it  was  a  '  Hidden  Treasure '." 

After  the  speed  trials  were  over  Bob  milked  his 
cows  again,  and  with  his  father  drove  out  to  Brook- 
side  Farm. 

"  My,  it  certainly  doesn't  look  like  the  old  place, 
Bob,"  his  father  remarked,  when  they  came  in  sight 
of  the  farm.  "What  a  fine  fence;  are  those  stone 
posts.  Bob?" 

"  No,  dad,  they're  concrete,  but  will  last  just  as 
long  as  stone." 


268  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

Bob  now  stopped  the  car  to  give  his  father  time  to 
see  all  the  changes. 

"  Why,  the  sawmill's  gone  too,  Bob." 

"  Yes,"  he  replied,  "  we'll  drive  down  that  way  and 
go  in  at  the  lower  gate." 

It  was  hard  for  Bob's  father  to  understand  the 
reason  for  all  the  buildings  and  what  conditions  had 
made  them  different  sizes  and  shapes. 

He  did  not  know  until  Bob  explained  tO'  him  that 
each  building  required  special  designing  to  suit  certain 
conditions. 

That  night  they  sang  the  "  Happy  Farmer  "  song 
for  him,  and  his  father  sat  up  long  after  the  others  had 
retired,  talking  to  his  brother  Joe. 

On  the  way  home  from  the  Fair  on  Friday  after- 
noon, the  animals  from  Brookside  Farm  fell  in  behind 
those  of  the  Wallace  Farm.  Alex  Wallace  was  look- 
ing after  their  flock  of  Merino  sheep,  in  which  there 
was  an  old  buck,  and  had  with  him  their  Scotch  collie 
dog  "  Don."  Bob  was  looking  after  his  flock  of  South- 
down sheep,  which  he  had  driven  close  behind  Alex,  so 
the  boys  could  talk  to  each  other  back  and  forth  as 
they  went  along. 

After  a  while  Alex  got  tired  turning  his  head 
around  to  hear  what  Bob  had  to  say,  for  the  noise  of 
the  clattering  feet  of  the  sheep  on  the  concrete  road 
made  it  difficult  for  him  to  hear,  so  he  left  his  dog 
"  Don  "  between  the  two  flocks  and  came  back  and 
joined  Bob. 


THE  FAIR  269 

They  proceeded  thus  for  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
when  suddenly  Jerry,  the  Southdown  buck  of  Bob's 
flock,  started  forward  and  all  the  others  followed,  so 
that  the  two  flocks  became  merged  into  one.  As  Bob 
rushed  forward  to  separate  them,  the  two  bucks 
stepped  up  to  each  other  and  placed  their  heads 
together,  when  Alex,  seeing  Bob  trying  to  separate 
them,  shouted : 

"  That's  right,  Bob,  take  your  big  fellow  away  or 
mine  will  kill  him." 

The  remark  angered  Bob,  whereupon  he  ceased  his 
efforts  and  said : 

"  Well,  if  you  think  that  little  runt  of  yours  can 
kill  ours,  I  guess  we  had  better  let  them  fight  it  out." 

"  All  right,"  said  Alex;  "  I'm  satisfied." 

So  the  two  boys  stood  still  while  the  two  bucks 
placed  their  heads  together,  then  stepped  slowly  back- 
wards until  they  were  on  opposite  sides  of  the  road, 
where  they  stood  looking  at  each  other.  The  ewes 
crowded  back  and  left  an  open  space  between  them 
and  stood  as  intently  interested  as  the  boys,  waiting  the 
coming  battle. 

After  the  bucks  had  paused  for  a  moment,  they 
lowered  their  heads  and  rushed  at  each  other.  Now, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  a  Southdown  buck  stands 
very  much  higher  than  one  of  the  Merino  breed,  which 
is  rather  short  in  the  legs  and  set  close  to  the  ground. 
Also  that  the  Southdown  had  been  used  to  associating 
with  sheep  of  his  own  size;  consequently  when  he  low- 


270  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

ered  his  head  to  strike,  he  did  not  take  into  account  that 
the  Merino  was  so  much  lower  than  himself.  This 
gave  the  Merino  the  advantage,  and,  instead  of  the 
Merino  striking  his  adversary  on  the  hard  skull  as  the 
latter  expected  he  would  do,  he  struck  him  on  the  point 
of  the  nose,  breaking  Jerry's  neck. 

Both  boys  were  horrified  to  see  Bob's  prize-winning 
buck  lying  dead  in  the  road,  and  while  they  looked  at 
him  speechless,  Tony,  who  was  coming  along  behind 
with  some  of  the  cattle,  rushed  forward  and  quickly 
turned  him  into  mutton,  while  Bob  with  a  heavy  heart 
went  on  to  the  farm  with  the  others. 

It  was  not  necessary  for  Bob  to  explain  the  fight 
to  his  uncle,  who  came  along  the  road  shortly  behind 
him  and  to  whom  Tony  explained  the  accident. 

"  It's  all  right,  Bob,"  said  his  uncle,  as  he  drove  up 
into  the  barnyard.  "  I  know  just  how  you  felt  when 
Alex  Wallace  challenged  you  to  let  them  fight,  and 
while  I'm  sorry  Jerry  is  dead,  still  I  think  if  I  had 
been  there  myself,  I  would  have  taken  up  his  dare, 
just  as  you  did.  You  know  Brookside  Farm  has  a 
reputation  to  maintain,  and,  while  I  don't  believe  in 
quarreling,  still  this  was  a  case  where  I  think  you  were 
justified  in  letting  them  scrap  it  out.  At  any  rate, 
we've  had  such  a  profitable  year  at  Brookside,  I  guess 
we  can  afford  to  charge  Jerry  to  the  profit  and  loss 
account.  He  has  not  been  exactly  a  gross  loss.  Tony 
has  turned  him  into  mutton,  and,  as  soon  as  I  get  the 
cattle  stowed  away,  I'm  going  back  for  him. 


THE  FAIR  271 

As  soon  as  the  Fair  was  over  and  all  returned  to  the 
farm,  they  started  in  to  dig  their  potatoes.  Joe  Wil- 
liams expected  a  good  yield  from  the  field,  but  he  was 
surprised  when  he  found  that  from  the  seven  acres  he 
obtained  1400  bushels,  which  was  considerably  more 
than  he  thought  w^as  possible.  To  lessen  the  work,  a 
potato  plow  was  used  to  dig  them,  and  they  were 
graded  by  machinery  in  the  field. 

The  new  concrete  root  cellar  had  been  completed 
just  a  few  days  before  and  the  potatoes  were  taken 
there  and  put  into  bins. 

"  Do  you  know  what  I  think,  Uncle  Joe?  ''  said  Bob 
one  evening  at  supper,  after  the  potatoes  had  all  been 
gathered. 

"  What  have  you  thought  of  now?  "  asked  his 
uncle  laughing,  for  since  his  crop  had  turned  out  so 
well  and  he  had  won, so  many  prizes  at  the  Fair,  Joe 
Williams  was  very  happy. 

"  I  think  if  we  would  take  our  seven-acre  potato 
field  and  put  in  an  overhead  sprinkler  system,  and  put 
plenty  of  manure  on  it  next  year,  we  could  increase 
the  yield  from  1400  bushels  to  4200  bushels." 

"  How  could  it  be  possible  to  get  that  many  potatoes 
out  of  seven  acres  of  ground,  Bob?  "  asked  his  uncle 
incredulously. 

"  Well,  I've  been  reading  of  a  farm  in  New  Jersey 
where  they  do  that,  and  they  got  $960  per  acre  for  the 
potatoes,  which  were  only  one  of  three  crops  raised 
on  the  ground  the  same  year." 


272  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  If  that's  so,  Bob,  why  wouldn't  it  pay  to  plant 
the  whole  farm  in  potatoes?  " 

''  Well,  maybe  it  would,  Uncle  Joe,  at  least  sev- 
eral of  the  fields.  The  story  of  the  farm  I  was  reading 
about  said  they  put  on  one  hundred  tons  of  manure, 
worth  $2.50  per  ton,  on  each  acre  of  ground." 

"  What!  "  said  his  uncle;  "  $250  worth  of  manure 
on  each  acre.    That  wouldn't  be  possible." 

"  Well,  that's  what  the  paper  said — plenty  of  water 
and  plenty  of  manure,  and  the  crops  take  care  of 
themselves." 

"  That's  right,  Joe,"  said  his  wife.  "  Bob  showed 
me  the  same  article.  The  farm  averaged  over  $2000 
per  acre  and  I  think  it  would  be  a  good  idea  to  buy  the 
outfit  next  year,  Joe.  The  same  as  our  growing  of 
vegetables  under  glass.  I'm  very  much  interested  in 
growing  vegetables  out  of  season — there  isn't  much 
work  to  do  in  winter  and  we  can  easily  take  care  of 
them,  and  in  that  way  we  may  find  we  could  make 
more  money  on  less  ground  than  by  doing  general 
farming." 

"  Well,  it's  worth  looking  into,"  said  her  husband. 
"  All  of  our  things  so  far  have  panned  out  pretty 
good  and  I'm  not  willing  to  pass  up  anything  now 
without  giving  it  a  thorough  investigation.  By  the 
way,  Bettie,  don't  you  think  weought  to  put  an  orchard 
on  '  Old  Round  Top  ?  '  That's  one  field  we  can't  very 
well  plow." 

''  What  had  you  thought  of  planting,  Joe?  " 


THE  FAIR  273 

"  I  thought  peaches  would  be  a  good  crop  there — 
peaches  ought  to  do  well  on  the  south  slope." 

"  Well,  you  know  a  peach  orchard  doesn't  live  very 
long  and  it's  rather  a  fickle  crop,"  she  replied. 

"  I  tell  you  what  I  was  thinking  of,  Uncle  Joe," 
said  Bob, 

"  What's  that?  "  asked  his  uncle. 

"  Planting  it  with  peaches  with  black  walnut  trees 
in  between." 

"What  do  you  want  with  black  walnuts?"  asked 
Bob's  uncle. 

"  Well,  when  the  trees  are  grown,  you  have  the 
walnuts,  and  when  the  trees  get  older  black  walnut 
timber,  which  is  very  valuable.  A  hill  such  as  Round 
Top  that  isn't  much  good  for  anything  else,  would 
raise  good  black  walnut  timber.  Of  course,  you'd  have 
to  dynamite  the  holes  good  and  deep  where  you  put 
the  trees,  so  they'd  have  no  trouble  getting  good  roots. 
Once  they  were  well  started,  I  don't  think  there'd  be 
any  trouble  with  them." 

"  I  hadn't  thought  of  that.  Bob,"  said  his  uncle, 
"  but  I  guess  we  had  better  look  into  it.  By  the  time 
the  peach  trees  were  dead,  the  walnut  trees  would  have 
a  good  start.    How  many  trees  will  it  take  to  plant  it  ?  " 

"  I  figure  if  we  took  the  whole  twelve  acres,  it 
would  require  twelve  hundred  peach  trees,"  said  Bob. 

"  But  that  would  be  a  good  many  peach  trees  to 
take  care  of.  Uncle  Joe." 

"  Yes,  but  we  won't  be  building  any  concrete  build- 

18 


274  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

ings  by  the  time  they  begin  bearing,  so  why  not  plant 
it  all  in  peach  trees  with  the  black  walnuts  in  between, 
as  you  say  ?  " 

"I'll  have  Edith  write  to  a  grower  to-night,  if  you 
wish,  Joe,  and  find  what  the  peaches  will  cost,"  said 
his  wife. 

"How  about  the  black  walnuts?"  asked  Bob. 
"  Shall  we  plant  the  trees  or  nuts?  " 

"  I  think  we  had  better  plant  nuts  and  let  them 
grow  themselves.  We  can  stick  a  lot  of  them  between 
the  peach  trees  and,  of  course,  the  peach  trees  will  be 
dead  long  before  the  walnuts  get  to  be  any  size." 

Much  to  the  regret  of  every  one,  two  days  later 
Ruth  and  Edith  said  good-by  to  Brookside  Farm  and 
went  back  to  their  New  England  homes.  They  had 
intended  to  stay  a  few  weeks  longer,  but  a  telegram 
from  Edith's  father  saying  her  mother  had  been  taken 
suddenly  ill  and  needed  her,  caused  them  to  decide  that 
they  should  return  at  once.  When  Bob  came  back 
from  an  inspection  trip  with  John  White  and  the 
County  Commissioners  over  the  new  concrete  road, 
they  had  packed  their  trunks  and  were  ready  to  leave 
for  the  afternoon  train.  He  drove  the  girls  and  their 
Aunt  Bettie  to  town  in  the  car  and  was  particularly 
depressed  when  he  said  good-by  at  the  station — some- 
how or  other  they  had  become  part  of  the  life  at 
Brookside  Farm,  and  now  that  they  were  going  he 
began  to  realize  how  much  he  would  miss  them.  Even 
the  good-natured  Ruth,  in  her  impetuous  way  and  abil- 


THE  FAIR  275 

ity  to  get  into  trouble,  had  added  much  to  the  Hfe  on 
the  farm. 

Edith  was  very  quiet  all  the  way  to  the  station,  and 
Bob  could  not  tell  whether  it  was  worrying  over  the 
possible  illness  of  her  mother  or  her  disappointment 
in  having  to  return  so  soon,  or  maybe,  as  he  hoped,  it 
was  for  another  reason  she  was  silent — at  any  rate,  she 
had  little  to  say  to  him  as  he  bid  her  good-by,  but  just 
before  she  ascended  the  steps  of  the  train,  when,  for 
a  second,  they  looked  full  into  each  others'  eyes,  he 
seemed  to  feel  that  perhaps  he  was  right  in  attributing 
it  to  that  reason. 

So  the  girls  went  on  their  way  and  Bob  went  back 
to  work. 


XXIII 

CHRISTMAS  AT  BROOKSIDE  FARM 

One  evening  a  few  days  before  Thanksgiving, 
shortly  after  they  had  moved  into  the  new  house,  Bob 
sat  before  the  open  fire  talking  with  his  aunt  and  uncle, 
when  the  latter  said : 

"  Bob,  it's  just  a  little  over  nine  months  since  you 
came  to  live  with  us  and  turned  our  fann  upside  down, 
digging  after  '  Hidden  Treasure.'  Do  you  remember 
the  Sunday  we  let  the  water  out  of  the  old  pond?  " 

"  Yes,  I  do.  Uncle  Joe." 

"  Do  you  remember  the  conversation  you  and  I 
had  that  day?" 

''  I  haven't  forgotten  that  either,  Uncle  Joe,"  said 
Bob  with  a  smile. 

"  Well,  it's  getting  around  kind  of  close  to  pay- 
day, don't  you  think.  Bob?  " 

"  Oh,  I  don't  need  any  money,  Uncle  Joe.  I 
received  $250  for  my  honey  this  fall,  and  I  haven't 
spent  very  much  yet." 

"  That's  no  reason  why  you  should  not  be  paid  just 
the  same.  You've  done  your  work.  I  don't  know  what 
you  feel  you've  earned,  but  what  would  you  say  if  I 
gave  you  $540 — that's  at  the  rate  of  $60  per  month 
with  board." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  pay  me  in  money.  Uncle  Joe?  '* 

276 


CHRISTIVIAS  AT  BROOKSIDE  FARM       277 

"Of  course,  in  money.  I  don't  suppose  you  want 
to  take  it  out  in  sand  and  gravel,  do  you?  " 

"  No,  Uncle  Joe,  of  course  not ;  but  do  you  think 
I've  earned  that  much  money.  Uncle  Joe?  " 

"  Yes,  and  more,  but  that's  as  much  as  I  feel  I  can 
pay  you,  and  if  you  stay  with  us  another  year,  and  we 
prosper  as  well  as  we  did  this  year,  what  do  you  say 
to  calling  it  $75  per  month  with  board?  " 

"  That'll  be  splendid.  Uncle  Joe,  and  I'll  be  per- 
fectly satisfied." 

"  All  right,"  said  his  uncle,  "  then  it's  a  bargain, 
and  here's  your  check  for  the  money,"  and  he  handed 
him  a  check  already  made  out  and  drawn  to  his  order 
for  $540. 

"  Thank  you,  Uncle  Joe,"  said  Bob,  looking  first 
at  the  check  and  then  at  his  aunt  and  uncle  in  turn. 
"  I  hope  you  both  feel  I've  earned  it  all." 

"Oh,  yes,  you've  earned  it  all  right,  Bob;  don't 
worry  about  that,"  said  his  uncle. 

"  If  I  were  you,"  said  his  aunt,  "  I'd  stop  in  at 
Bush  &  Company,  tailors,  and  have  a  couple  of  nice 
suits  of  clothes  made — a  specially  good  one  for  Sunday 
and  another  one  for  general  dress-up  wear.  You 
should  have  a  new  overcoat,  too,  and  some  other  nice 
things.  You're  nineteen  years  old  now.  Bob,  and 
you've  been  working  pretty  hard  this  summer,  and  not 
paying  much  attention  to  your  clothes.  We'll  like  you 
just  as  well  in  your  old  clothes  as  we  will  in  the  new 
ones,  but  while  you're  a  farmer,  that's  no  reason  why 


278  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

you  should  not  have  some  good  clothes,  the  same  as 
other  boys.  You  know,  Brookside  Farm  has  estab- 
lished a  reputation,  and  while  I  don't  believe  in  wast- 
ing money  on  clothes,  I  think  we  should  all  be  dressed 
comfortably  and  be  neat." 

"  All  right.  Aunt  Bettie,  I'll  be  going  to  town 
to-morrow  and  I'll  take  care  of  it."  , 

Time  flew  quickly  at  Brookside  Farm,  while  they 
hurried  to  finish  their  concrete  buildings  and  get  their 
new  fences  up  before  the  ground  froze  up  solidly. 

After  this  was  done,  Joe  Williams  fixed  up  a  lot 
of  wire  racks  to  take  care  of  his  seed  corn,  and  care- 
fully winnowed  out  his  prize  oats  for  good  fertile 
seed.  The  chickens,  too,  claimed  considerable  of  their 
combined  attention. 

Now  that  Edith  had  gone  they  both  began  to  realize 
how  much  help  she  had  been  in  her  quiet  way  and  the 
many  things  she  had  done  while  there.  Bob  kept 
hoping  she  might  be  able  to  return  the  coming  year, 
although  the  letters  she  wrote  gave  him  no  encour- 
agement to  hope. 

"  Merry  Christmas,  Bob,"  called  his  aunt,  as  he 
came  in  from  doing  his  chores  on  Christmas  morning, 
and  she  handed  him  a  handsome  gold  watch  and  chain. 

"  Merry  Christmas,  Aunt  Bettie,"  he  replied. 
"Who  is  this  from?" 

"  That's  from  your  Uncle  Joe  and  me,"  said  his 
aunt,  "  and  a  Merry  Christmas  I  think  it  should  be, 
for  I  heard  your  uncle  say  yesterday  that  you  finished 


CHRISTMAS  AT  BROOKSIDE  FARM       279 

the  last  foot  of  wire  fence  and  that  all  the  concrete 
work  was  done,  except  some  garden  furniture. 

"  It  has  certainly  been  a  busy  year  for  you,  Bob," 
continued  his  aunt;  "  when  I  think  of  all  that  has  been 
accomplished,  it  seems  almost  inconceivable  how  we 
changed  the  old  place  in  such  a  short  time,  and  how 
much  more  comfortable  we  are  now  than  when  I  first 
came  to  the  farm  in  April.  Do  you  know.  Bob,  one 
of  the  nicest  buildings  we  have  on  the  farm  is  Tony's 
little  cottage  down  by  the  pond.  I  am  never  tired  of 
looking  at  it." 

"It  is  a  handsome  building,  Aunt  Bettie,  down 
there  under  those  big  elm  trees,"  said  Bob,  "  and  with 
the  pond  back  of  it,  it  has  a  very  homelike  appearance." 

"  What  are  you  planning  to  do  this  winter,  Bob, 
now  that  the  concrete  work  is  practically  all  done  ?  " 
she  asked. 

"  Well,  I  was  thinking,  Aunt  Bettie,  now  that 
Brookside  has  shown  its  earning  capacity,  that  we 
might  get  the  pipe  ready  for  the  overhead  irrigation 
system  in  the  field  over  by  the  main  road,  and  build  a 
pump  house  down  near  the  pond.  The  more  I  read 
and  think  of  intensive  cultivating,  the  more  I  believe 
there's  a  lot  of  money  can  be  made  by  this  method. 
Of  course,  if  we  don't  want  to  raise  potatoes,  we  could 
easily  raise  aelery  or  other  vegetables,  and  you  know 
we  can  get  four  crops  a  year  off  the  ground  instead 
of  oae,  if  we  plant  it  right,  and  fertilize  it  heavy 
enough." 


280  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  We'll  do  no  work  to-day,  Bob,  for  this  is  a  holi- 
day, so  we'll  just  have  a  good  time.  Did  you  get 
your  new  clothes  from  the  tailor?  " 

"  Yes,  I  got  them  last  night.  Maybe  I'll  dress  up 
to-day  just  to  see  how  they  look,"  he  added,  smiling 
back  at  her. 

"  Why  are  we  having  such  a  large  table  for  Christ- 
mas dinner,  Aunt  Bettie?  "  he  asked  a  little  later  in  the 
morning,  as  he  passed  through  the  dining  room  and 
saw  the  table  extended  to  an  unusual  size. 

"  I  didn't  know  but  some  one  might  drop  in  for 
dinner  on  Christmas,"  said  his  aunt  evasively. 

''Why,  is  there  some  one  coming.  Aunt  Bettie?" 
he  asked. 

"  You  just  wait  and  see,"  spoke  up  his  uncle,  who 
came  into  the  room. 

"  All  right,"  said  Bob;  "  I  guess  I'll  have  to  wait." 
"  That  reminds  me,"  said  his  uncle,  winking  at 
his  wife.  "  I  forgot  something  in  town  that  I  was 
to  bring  out.  John  White  asked  me  to  stop  around  at 
the  bank,  so  I'll  have  to  go  back — guess  I'll  have  time 
to  get  in  and  back  again  before  dinner." 

"  We  won't  have  dinner  to-day  until  12:  30,  Joe," 
said  his  wife,  "  so  if  you  start  now  you  ought  to  be 
back  easily  by  that  time,"  she  added  smiling. 

When  the  new  house  at  Brookside  was  planned,  a 
small  room  had  been  built  on  the  first  floor  to  be  used 
as  a  sort  of  an  office.  In  this  room  a  flat-top  desk  with 
drawers  had  been  placed  and  a  bookcase  to  contain  all 


CHRISTMAS  AT  BROOKSIDE  FARM       281 

their  bulletins  and  other  information  had  been  built  at 
one  end  in  a  convenient  place.  The  set  of  books  con- 
taining the  cost  accounting  system  of  the  farm  was 
kept  in  this  desk.  In  this  room  Bob  also  kept  a  small 
draughting  board  and  his  instruments.  At  odd  times 
he  sketched  new  buildings  and  other  things  for  the 
improvement  of  the  farm.  He  now  went  to  this  room 
and  began  work  again  on  the  designs  of  some  garden 
furniture,  which  they  were  planning  to  place  on  the 
sloping  ground  in  front  of  the  house  the  following 
spring.  He  was  busy  at  work  when  his  attention  was 
attracted  by  the  sound  of  an  automobile  coming  up  the 
driveway.  He  looked  out  of  the  window  as  the  car 
flashed  past ;  he  recognized  some  of  the  faces,  and 
rushed  out  to  the  porch  to  greet  them. 

There  was  something  very  unfamiliar  about  the  car 
as  it  came  up  the  driveway.  As  it  drew  near  he  saw 
the  reason,  for  instead  of  the  Ford  his  uncle  had  taken 
to  tow^n,  he  was  now  sitting  in  a  new  seven-passenger 
Buick.  In  the  front  seat,  with  his  uncle,  sat  Bob's 
father,  and  in  the  back  seat  was  his  mother,  with  his 
grandmother  and  grandfather  on  either  side  of  her. 

Bob  had  rushed  out  bare  headed  to  greet  them.  He 
kissed  his  mother  and  grandmother  and  shook  hands 
with  the  others. 

"  Well,  what  do  you  think  of  your  Aunt  Bettie's 
Christmas  gift.  Bob?  "  asked  his  uncle,  as  they  got 
back  on  the  perch  and  turned  around  to  look  at  the 
new  car. 


282  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  What  do  you  mean,  Aunt  Bettie's  Christmas 
gift?  "  he  asked. 

"  The  new  car,"  said  his  uncle. 

"  Is  that  her  car,  Uncle  Joe?  " 

"  Yes,  I  just  bought  it  for  her— that's  her  Christ- 
mas gift.     Isn't  it  a  dandy?  " 

"Whee!  It  surely  is,"  said  Bob.  "Does  she 
know  yet  that  you  bought  it?  " 

"  No,  that's  a  surprise  that's  coming  to  her,"  and 
they  both  ran  into  the  dining  room  where  she  was  busy 
with  the  dinner,  to  escort  her  out  to  inspect  the  car. 

Bob  had  never  seen  his  aunt  so  happy  as  when  she 
inspected  the  car  and  his  uncle  insisted  upon  her  getting 
into  the  seat,  as  he  explained  to  her  the  operation  of 
the  levers.  Her  eyes  were  bright  with  joy  when  she 
got  out  of  the  car  a  moment  later  and  went  back  to  her 
dinner  and  her  guests. 

"  It  was  very  kind  of  you,  Joe,  to  remember  me  in 
this  way,"  and  her  eyes  were  suspiciously  wet.  "  I  feel 
more  than  repaid  for  all  the  work  I  have  done  to  help 
you  build  up  Brookside  Farm." 

Christmas  Day  at  Brookside  was  an  event  long  to 
be  remembered,  for  not  only  had  Bob  the  pleasure 
of  explaining  to  his  mother  and  father  the  work  they 
had  been  doing  all  summer  and  telling  them  of  their 
plans  for  the  coming  year,  but  during  the  afternoon  a 
large  auto  truck  arrived  at  the  house  and  unloaded  a 
fine  piano  and  victrola,  the  latter  with  a  dozen  well- 
, selected  records. 


CHRISTMAS  AT  BROOKSIDE  FARM       283 

His  aunt  couldn't  believe  her  eyes  when  this  sec- 
ond Christmas  present  arrived.  The  only  satisfaction 
she  could  get  from  her  husband  was  that  he  and  John 
White  had  talked  it  over  and  decided  that  they  needed 
some  music  at  Brookside  to  brighten  their  evenings. 
After  supper  that  night,  his  Aunt  Bettie  sat  down  at 
the  piano  and  began  to  play. 

It  was  only  a  few  minutes  before  they  were  all 
gathered  around  the  piano  singing.  Naturally,  the  first 
song  was  Edith's  "  Happy  Farmer  ";  they  were  just  in 
the  midst  of  the  song  when  the  door  opened  and  in 
walked  Tony  and  Maria.  After  a  few  minutes'  inter- 
ruption, they  started  singing  again — Tony  and  his  wife 
joining  in  with  the  others. 

Once  the  singing  started  there  was  no  stopping 
them  and  for  several  hours  they  sang  song  after  song. 
It  was  really  the  first  time  since  Brookside  Farm  had 
become  a  reality,  that  they  had  a  chance  to  let  each 
other  know  just  how  happy  they  felt,  as  they  gave 
vent  to  their  feelings  in  song. 

"  I'm  only  sorry,"  said  Bob's  aunt,  *'  that  my  own 
father  and  mother  couldn't  have  lived  to  see  the  hap- 
piness and  joy  that  has  come  to  us.  This  has  been  the 
hap|>iest  Christmas  Day  I  have  ever  sp>ent." 

"  Bob!  "  called  his  uncle.  "  Come  here  a  minute. 
I  almost  forgot  to  give  you  something.  Here's  a  let- 
ter that  John  White  asked  me  to  deliver  to  you." 

Bob  took  the  letter,  read  it  and  then  re-read  it,  his 
face  a  puzzle. 


284  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

What  is  it?  "  asked  his  uncle  smihng. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Bob;  ''  it's  a  peculiar  kind  of 
a  letter,  and  I  don't  understand  it  at  all." 

"  Let  me  see  it,"  asked  his  father,  and  Bob  handed 
him  the  letter. 

After  looking  at  it  a  moment,  he  read  aloud : 

"  This  is  to  certify  that  we  have  this  day  bought 
the  sixty  acres  of  land  adjoining  Brookside  Farm,  on 
the  east,  for  the  sum  of  Eighteen  Hundred  Dollars 
($1800),  to  be  held  in  trust  for  Robert  Williams,  and 
to  be  turned  over  to  him  whenever  he  wishes  to  take 
possession.  The  sum  of  $1800,  the  purchase  price,  to 
be  paid  to  the  First  National  Bank  at  his  convenience 
and  draw  six  per  cent,  interest  until  paid.  The  first 
payment  of  One  Hundred  Dollars  ($100)  on  account, 
is  hereby  acknowledged.  (Signed),  The  First  National 
Bank,  John  White,  President." 

"  WTiat  does  it  mean.  Uncle  Joe?"  asked  Bob, 
looking  at  his  uncle,  who  was  smiling  across  at  him. 

"  Well,  it  simply  means  this.  Bob :  John  White 
wanted  to  make  sure  when  you  got  ready  to  buy  a  farm 
that  there'd  be  one  waiting  for  you.  He  persuaded 
Bruce  Wallace  to  sell  him  his  sixty  acres  adjoining 
Brookside  on  the  east.  He  said  he  wanted  you  to  have 
the  land  next  to  Brookside.  That  was  the  only  piece 
that  had  the  proper  exposure  and  good  water ;  besides 
this,  he  pointed  out  that  the  water  from  our  pond  runs 
through  this  also,  and  that  there  is  a  place  there  where 
you  can  have  a  pond  of  your  own,  if  you  want  it." 


CHRISTMAS  AT  BROOKSIDE  FARM       285 

"  What  about  the  $ioo  on  account,  Uncle  Joe?  " 
asked  Bob. 

"  Oh,"  laughed  his  uncle,  "  that's  your  Christmas 
gift  from  John  White." 

Bob  was  silent  while  he  tried  to  realize  the  full 
purport  of  the  letter.     Then  he  suddenly  said : 

"  I've  no  money  to  buy  a  farm,  Uncle  Joe." 

"  He  doesn't  say  that  you  have  to  take  it  up  right 
away,  or  that  you  have  to  pay  for  it  by  any  particular 
time.  You  see,  Bob,  since  the  new  concrete  road  has 
been  built,  farms  are  soon  going  to  advance  in  price 
and  he  wanted  you  to  have  the  advantage  of  buying 
yours  at  the  original  price.  He  feels  you  are  largely 
responsible  for  the  improvements  that  have  been  made 
in  this  section  and  that  you  should  benefit  by  them." 

"  I  guess  we'll  have  to  sing  Edith's  *  Happy 
Farmer '  song  again,"  said  Bob's  aunt,  as  she  seated 
herself  at  the  piano  and  struck  up  the  familiar  air,  in 
which  they  all  joined  with  a  will. 


XXIV 

COST  ACCOUNTING 

Shortly  after  Christmas,  Tony  came  to  Joe  Wil- 
liams and  explained  that  his  brother,  who  was  then 
visiting  them,  would  like  to  stay  at  Brookside  and 
work.  As  Tony  had  given  eminent  satisfaction,  and 
his  brother  seemed  to  be  a  capable  young  man,  he  was 
engaged  to  look  after  the  dairy. 

In  February  Bob  had  taken  two  weeks  ofif.  He  had 
gone  to  visit  his  father  and  mother.  When  he  returned 
he  found  that  many  important  events  had  occurred  at 
Brookside  Farm. 

"  Who  do  you  think  is  here?  "  asked  his  uncle,  as 
Bob  came  into  the  sitting  room. 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Bob;  "  unless  it's  Edith  back 
again." 

"  I  believe  you're  pretty  fond  of  Edith,"  said  his 
uncle,  eyeing  him  suspiciously ;  "  seems  to  me  you  two 
were  together  a  good  deal  last  summer,  come  to  think 
of  it." 

"  Well,  isn't  she  a  nice  girl,  Uncle  Joe?  " 

"  She  certainly  is  a  fine  girl,  Bob,  and  I'm  sorry 
to  disappoint  you,  but  it  isn't  Edith  this  time — it's 
Joseph  Williams,  Jr.,  said  his  uncle  proudly,  "  three 
days  old  to-day." 

"  You  don't  mean  it.  Uncle  Joe,"  exclaimed  Bob. 

"  Yes,  sir,  Bob ;  twelve  pounds  on  the  scale,  and 

286 


COST  ACCOUNTING  287 

every  inch  a  farmer.  We've  produced  some  prize 
winners  at  Brookside  Farm,  Bob,  but  this  one  heads 
the  Hst." 

"  That's  splendid,  Uncle  Joe.    May  I  see  him?  " 

"  As  soon  as  we  get  warm,  Bob.  I  wouldn't  go 
into  the  room  until  you've  had  a  chance  to  warm  up 
some." 

A  few  minutes  later  Bob  was  conducted  to  his 
aunt's  room  and  there  was  not  only  allowed  to  see,  but 
to  hold  in  his  arms,  the  heir  of  Brookside  Farm. 

"  My,  but  he's  little,"  said  Bob. 

"Little!"  exclaimed  his  uncle.  "Why,  he's  a 
bouncing  big  boy." 

"  Well,  maybe  it's  the  clothes  that  make  him  look 
so  small." 

"  Don't  tell  us  that,"  said  his  uncle,  "  for  we  know 
better." 

"  That's  what  you  told  me  when  I  first  came  to  the 
farm,"  laughed  Bob. 

"  That's  right.  I  remember  now  you  did  look 
small.  Bob,  but  you've  grown  a  lot  since  then." 

"  Guess  he'll  grow  too.  Uncle  Joe.  Everything 
seems  to  grow  fast  on  Brookside." 

Then  the  baby  asserted  himself. 

"  My,  what  a  good  pair  of  lungs  he  has.  Uncle  Joe," 
said  Bob. 

"  Just  see  what  nice  black  hair  he  has,  too,"  smiled 
his  Aunt  Bettie. 

"  I  tell  you  what,"  said   Bob,   after  a  moment's 


288  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

thought,  "  they'll  have  to  go  some  to  get  ahead  of 
Brookside  Farm." 

"  This  isn't  the  only  thing  that  has  happened  since 
you  left,"  said  his  uncle.  "  You  ought  to  go  down 
to  Tony's  cottage  and  see  what's  been  doing  there." 

"What?"  asked  Bob. 

"  Oh,  they  have  the  finest  little  black-haired  two- 
day-old  girl  you  ever  saw,"  said  his  aunt. 

"  You  don't  mean  it,"  said  Bob. 

"  Tony's  so  excited,"  said  his  uncle,  "  that  he  for- 
gets everything  you  ask  him  to  do." 

"  Well,  this  is  certainly  fine  news,"  said  Bob.  "  I 
don't  suppose  I  dare  go  down  and  see  her." 

"  I  think  I'd  wait  a  day  or  two  if  I  were  you.  Bob, 
before  going  down." 

Bob  and  his  uncle  now  retired  to  the  sitting  room 
and  were  talking  over  the  events  that  had  happened 
while  he  was  away,  when  Alex  Wallace  dropped  in 
to  see  them. 

"How's  the  new  boy,  Joe?"  asked  Alex. 

"  He's  fine,  Alex — greatest  prize  winner  at  Brook- 
side  Farm." 

"  Where  have  you  been.  Bob?  "  asked  Alex. 

"  I've  been  visiting  my  father  and  mother,"  said 
Bob. 

"  I  came  over  to  see  about  the  ice,  Joe,"  said  Alex. 
"  I  suppose,  since  you've  made  the  improvements  at 
Brookside,  we  can't  go  down  to  the  pond  and  help 
ourselves  any  more." 


COST  ACCOUNTING  289 

"  You  had  better  talk  that  over  with  Bob,''  said 
his  uncle,  as  the  baby  began  to  cry  and  he  left  them 
to  see  what  Avas  happening  to  it. 

"  That's  right,"  said  Bob;  "  we  pay  for  everything 
we  get  and  charge  for  everything  that  goes  off  the 
farm." 

"  You  don't  mean  you're  going  to  charge  for  ice!  " 
exclaimed  Alex  almost  incredulously. 

"  Well,  why  not?  "  said  Bob.  ''  It's  worth  some- 
thing, isn't  it?  The  pond  cost  us  money  and  occu- 
pies ground  that  could  be  used  for  other  purposes." 

"  That's  so,"  said  Alex.  "  I  hadn't  thought  of  that." 

"  The  pond  has  to  pay  rent  for  the  ground,  and  ice 
is  one  of  the  things  it  produces." 

"  What  does  ice  bring  this  winter?  "  asked  Alex. 

"  Fifty  cents  per  ton  on  the  water,"  said  Bob,  "  and 
you  cut  it  yourself." 

"  How  can  you  tell  how  much  it  takes  to  make  a 
ton?  "  asked  Alex. 

"  Oh,  that's  easy,"  said  Bob.  "  You  measure  the 
size  of  the  cakes,  and,  when  you  know  the  thickness, 
yuu  can  refer  to  a  schedule  in  one  of  the  bulletins  and 
that  will  tell  you  exactly  how  much  it  weighs." 

"  Well,  I  don't  think  my  father  will  be  willing  to 
pay  for  ice,"  said  Alex. 

"  Why  not?  "  said  Bob.     "  It's  worth  something." 

"  Yes,  but  nobody  charges  for  ice,"  said  Alex. 

"  Well,  of  course,  if  you  know  of.  any  one  who  has 
nice  ice  to  give  away,  that's  the  place  to  get  it,"  said 
Bob,  "  but  if  you  want  ice  from  Brookside,  yon  better 
19 


290  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

let  us  know'  soon,  because  three  or  four  people  are  ask- 
ing for  the  full  cutting  of  the  pond,  and,  of  course, 
we  want  to  fill  our  own  icehouse  first,  and  after  that — 
first  come,  first  served." 

"  You  had  better  hold  it  for  us.  Bob,  until  I  find 
out." 

"  You'll  have  to  make  up  your  mind  whether  you 
want  it  or  not;  there's  the  telephone — call  up  your 
father  and  see  what  he  says." 

After  a  few  minutes  talk  with  his  father,  Alex  came 
out  of  the  office  and  said : 

''  We'll  take  it,  Bob.  Put  us  down  for  the  first  cut- 
ting after  you  get  your  own  off.  I  think  it  will  take  a 
full  cutting  of  the  entire  pond  to  fill  our  icehouse. 
There's  another  thing  I  was  going  to  ask  you  about, 
too.  Could  we  have  Tony  a  while  to  help  us  with  some 
concrete  work?  " 

"  What  are  you  going  to  build,  Alex?  "  asked  Bob. 

"  Oh,  we  want  to  make  some  concrete  fence  posts, 
and  fence  in  our  property.  Since  father  sold  the  sixty- 
acre  farm  to  the  First  National  Bank  we  thought  we'd 
improve  the  remaining  hundred  and  forty  by  putting 
up  a  wire  fence  on  concrete  posts." 

"  You'd  have  to  put  up  a  shed  and  get  some  moulds 
and  all  that  sort  of  thing,"  said  Bob.  "  Why  not  let 
us  sell  you  posts?  " 

"  Will  you  sell  us  some?  "  asked  Alex. 

*'  Surely,"  said  Bob.  "  Tony  has  been  making  a 
lot  of  fence  posts  this  winter.  We're  going  to  make 
a  regular  business." 


COST  ACCOUNTING  291 

"  How  much  will  they  cost  us?  "  asked  Alex. 

"  Seventy-five  cents  at  the  pit  and  you  can  haul 
them  yourselves." 

"  I'll  speak  to  father  about  it  and  see  what  he  says. 
He  rather  thought,  though,  we'd  make  them  ourselves." 

"  Just  as  you  like,"  said  Bob.  "  The  posts  will  cost 
you  less  if  you  make  them  yourselves  and  you'll  have 
the  advantage,  when  the  shed  is  once  up,  you  can  make 
all  kinds  of  things." 

"  I  think  that's  what  we'd  rather  do.  I'd  like  to 
work  in  cement  myself.  I  think  it  must  be  very  inter- 
esting, and  I'd  like  to  get  father  started  so  we  can  get 
some  concrete  buildings  like  Brookside  Farm.  You 
haven't  any  idea,  Bob,  how  nice  your  buildings  look 
from  over  at  the  turn  of  the  road." 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  do.  I  often  stop  when  I'm  coming  out 
from  town  to  take  a  look  from  that  point." 

"  How  long  do  you  want  Tony?  "  asked  Bob. 

"  We'd  like  to  have  him  two  or  three  weeks,"  said 
Alex. 

"  That  will  be  all  right — ^we  can  let  him  go." 

The  next  few  weeks  Bob  spent  sharpening  up  their 
tools,  oiling  the  machines  and  touching  up  the  paint 
on  those  that  showed  wear.  As  soon  as  this  was  com- 
pleted, he  began  making  fifty  additional  concrete 
apiaries.  The  bees  had  paid  so  well  the  previous  year 
that  he  decided  to  increase  their  number  to  one  hun- 
dred colonies.  Another  thing  that  caused  him  to  arrive 
at  this  decision  was  a  letter  from  Edith,  a  few  days 
before,   saying   ehe   had   her  mother's  permission  to 


292  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

return  to  Brookside  in  the  early  spring  and  that  she 
would  again  spend  the  summer  with  them. 

"  Do  you  know  what  day  this  is,  Bob?  "  asked  his 
uncle  a  few  weeks  later,  as  they  sat  down  to  breakfast. 

"  It's  Thursday,  Uncle  Joe,"  said  Bob. 

"  Yes,  Thursday,  Alarch  first,  and  it  will  be  just 
one  year  to-morrow  since  you  came  to  Brookside 
Farm.  Your  Aunt  Bettie  and  I've  been  talking  it  over 
and  we've  decided  we  should  take  our  inventory  to-day 
and  balance  our  books  to-night,  and  see  how  much 
we've  made  or  lost  during  the  year,"  he  added  smiling. 
"  Bettie  thinks  it's  better  to  take  inventory  on  March 
first  instead  of  April  first,  so  that  all  the  labor  that 
goes  on  the  spring  plowing  may  be  charged  in  the  new 
year.  As  soon  as  we  have  our  breakfast,  Bob,  we'll  go 
to  the  bam  and  take  a  careful  inventory  of  all  the  grain, 
live  stock,  poultry  and  other  products." 

It  took  them  until  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  to 
make  the  inventory,  which  was  then  laid  aside  until 
after  supper,  when  they  would  figure  out  the  amount 
^nd  compare  the  results  with  the  previous  year. 

They  had  just  sat  down  to  supper  when  the  door 
of  the  dining  room  was  suddenly  opened  and  there 
stood  Ruth  and  Edith,  cheeks  aglow  and  eyes 
sparkling. 

"Where  in  the  world  did  you  girls  come  from?" 
asked  their  aunt,  who  was  the  first  to  see  them. 

"  Oh,  we  came  in  on  the  afternoon  train,"  laughed 
Ruth,  "  and  we  got  Henry  Smith  to  drive  us  out.  We 
wanted  to  surprise  you." 


COST  ACCOUNTING  293 

"  Well,  you  certainly  have,"  said  their  uncle,  as 
they  all  crowded  around  to  welcome  them  back  to 
Brookside  Farm. 

"  Where's  your  new  farmhand,  Aunt  Bettie? " 
asked  Ruth.    "  I  want  to  see  him." 

Her  aunt  looked  puzzled  for  a  moment  and  then 
said: 

"  He  s  around  somewhere  if  you'd  like  to  see  him, 
but  why  are  you  so  anxious  to  see  him,  Ruth?  He's 
Tony's  brother,  you  know." 

"  Oh,  I  mean  Joseph  Williams,  Jr.,"  exclaimed 
Ruth  excitedly. 

"Oh,  he's  asleep  upstairs,"  said  her  aunt;  "you 
may  see  him  directly,  but  you  must  have  something  to 
eat  first." 

Their  wraps  were  soon  removed.  A  few  minutes 
later  happenings  on  Brookside  Farm  were  intermingled 
with  happenings  in  New  England,  as  they  asked  and 
answered  each  others'  questions. 

After  supper  was  over  and  while  the  girls  were 
inspecting  the  new  baby.  Bob  and  his  uncle  sat  in  the 
office  and  figured  out  the  inventory.  Bob  was  just 
completing  the  written  statement  of  the  account,  when 
his  aunt  and  the  two  girls  came  into  the  office. 

"  Have  you  the  inventory  finished  yet?  "  asked  his 
aunt. 

"  Just  finished,"  he  said,  laying  down  the  sheet. 

"  Then  we're  just  in  time,"  said  Edith,  "  for  that's 
why  we  planned  to  reach  here  to-day;  we  wanted  to 
know  the  result  of  the  year's  work,  and  I'm  sure  it 
must  be  a  good  report." 


294  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

INVENTORY 

April  15,    March  i, 

Item  1916           1917 

Farm,  125  acres $6,000.00      $6,000.00 

New  Buildings 20,000.00 

Cows : 

10  head  @  $175   i,7So.oo        1,500.00 

8  head  @   $60   480.00 

Heifers,  5  head  @  $50 250.00 

Bulls : 

I  head  @  $350   350.00          350.00 

1  head  @  $75   75.00 

Calves,  4  head  @  $10 40.00 

Horses : 

2  head  @  $350   700.00          600.00 

2 head® $200 400.00 

Colts,  2  head  @  $200 400.00 

Hogs: 

5  head  @  $40   200.00           150.00 

6  head  @  $30  180.00 

8  head  @  $25   200.00 

I  head  @  $75    75-0O 

Sheep,  12  head  @  $20 240.00          240.00 

Chickens    50.00           55O.0O 

Machinery  and  Tools 125.00        5,000.00 

Automobile  440.00         1,400.00 

Feed  and  Supplies 300.00          566.00 

Growing  Crops  (Labor  and  Seed)  80.00           150.00 

Cash  110.00        3,72500 

Bills  Receivable  75-00        1,275.00 

Seed  on  Hand 600.00 

Ice   60.00 

Wood    200.00 

Total  Resources  $1 1,520.00    $43,366.00 

Mortgage  and  Bills  Payable  6,000.00      31,500.00 

Net  Worth  $5,620.00    $11,866.00 

Gain  ^r  the  Year 6,246.00 

$11,866.00    $11,866.00 


COST  ACCOUNTING  295 

Her  aunt  picked  up  the  sheet  and  read  it  over  care- 
fully and  said : 

"  The  farm  shmvs  a  gross  earning  of  $12,420  for 
the  new  year,  and  after  paying  the  interest  on  the  mort- 
gage and  loans  of  $1860;  $2000  for  wages  and  $2214 
for  new  furniture,  piano,  victrola  and  new  automobile, 
a  total  of  $6074,  it  still  leaves  a  balance  of  $6346,  as 
a  net  gain,  and  that  without  counting  the  earnings 
from  the  sand  pit.  Our  new  buildings  and  fencing  cost 
us  $20,000,  and  our  new  machinery  and  tools  $5000. 
The  farm  shows  a  profit  of  $124  per  acre  for  the 
ground  under  cultivation.  If  we  do  as  well  this  com- 
ing year  as  we  did  last  year,  we  ought  to  have  the 
farm  free  and  clear,  but,  of  course,  we  won't  have  to 
depend  on  that  as  we  have  the  earnings  from  the  sand 
pit  to  help  out,  if  we  want  to  use  it  for  that  purpose, 
but  instead  of  paying  off  the  mortgage  in  full,  I  think 
we  will  irrigate  the  seven  acres  along  the  main  road 
and  put  that  field  under  intensive  cultivation." 

"  We  ought  to  do  a  great  deal  better  next  year, 
Uncle  Joe,"  said  Bob,  "  as  we  won't  have  the  build- 
ings to  bother  with  and  I  can  devote  all  my  time  to  the 
work ;  then  we  ought  to  be  able  to  do  a  great  deal  more 
work,  too,  on  account  of  the  saving  of  time,  due  to 
having  modern  buildings  and  all  our  f>ower  installed, 
which  we  didn't  have  for  the  full  season  last  year." 

They  studied  the  inventory  for  some  minutes,  com- 
paring the  gross  earnings  per  acre  of  one  crop  with 
another,  and  were  very  much  surprised  to  find  that  in 


296  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

many  cases  crops  they  had  previously  thought  to  be 
quite  profitable  showed  up  in  the  schedule  rather  poorly 
by  comparison  with  others. 

"  Why,  the  oats  seem  to  have  earned  only  $21  per 
acre,  while  the  corn  shows  an  earning  of  $44  per  acre — 
more  than  twice  as  much  as  the  oats,''  said  Edith. 

"You  know,  Edith,"  said  her  uncle,  "  that  after 
the  oats  were  taken  off  we  pastured  sixty  pigs  in  the 
oat  stubble  for  the  balance  of  the  summer.  Of  course, 
that  must  be  credited  up  to  the  oat  field,  because  the 
crop  made  it  possible  to  raise  the  rape  and  afford  a 
good  pasture  for  them." 

"  Oh,  I  hadn't  thought  of  that,"  said  Edith. 

"  The  apples  paid  well,"  said  Ruth;  "  almost  $140 
per  acre,  and  we  were  just  starting  our  new  system 
of  selling  by  mail." 

"  Of  course,  last  year  we  had  an  exceptionally  nice 
crop,"  said  their  aunt,  "  which  was  partly  due,  no 
doubt,  to  Bob's  bees,  and  I  think  some  credit  should  be 
given  to  the  dynamiting  of  the  land.  Next  year  I'm 
sure  we  can  sell  every  apple  raised  at  a  good  price." 

"  Did  we  make  $430  out  of  pigs  last  year?  "  asked 
Ruth,  looking  at  the  hog  account. 

"  That's  what  we  did,"  laughed  her  uncle. 

"  I  had  no  idea  so  much  money  could  be  made  rais- 
ing pigs." 

"  Well,  that's  probably  due  to  two  reasons,"  said 
her  uncle;  "  first,  we  started  with  a  good  breed,  and, 
second,  we  took  good  care  of  them.    You  see  we  use 


COST  ACCOUNTING  297 

a  well-lighted  and  ventilated  piggery  and  were  able  to 
average  two  litters  in  the  year,  which,  of  course,  is 
just  twice  as  good  as  raising  one.  Then  we  were  for- 
tunate in  having  good  litters.  We  raised  eight  pigs 
per  litter,  which  is  beyond  the  average." 

"  Of  course,  Uncle  Joe,  Brookside  Farm  is  no 
'  average  '  farm,  and  we  ought  to  do  better  than  average 
farming,"  she  said. 

"  Yes,  Ruth,  but  it  takes  work  and  study  to  do  that 
and  the  information  that  is  in  the  bulletins  must  be 
transferred  into  our  heads  if  we're  going  to  work 
successfully." 

Hearing  his  wife  chuckle,  Williams  looked  up  and 
said: 

"  Well,  now,  Bettie,  what  are  you  laughing  at?  " 

"  I  was  just  thinking  of  our  conference  a  year 
ago  when  we  made  up  our  first  inventory.  /  was  the 
school  teacher  then,  but  I've  evidently  lost  my  position, 
for  you  are  now  the  teacher  of  modern  methods,  Joe," 
said  his  wife. 

"  And  why  not?  Haven't  you  a  job  now  that's  big 
enough  for  any  woman,  looking  after  that  son  of 
ours?" 

"  Well,  I  guess  that  will  take  some  of  my  time, 
Joe,"  she  laughed,  "  but  just  the  same  I'm  pleased  to 
know  you're  so  interested  in  scientific  investigation." 

"The  potatoes  paid  $170  per  acre,"  said  Edith, 
"  which  is  the  highest  rate  per  acre  of  all." 

"  The  wheat  averaged  well,  too,"  said  Joe  Wil- 


298  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

liams,  "  a  little  over  $41  per  acre.  I'm  sorry  we  didn't 
have  a  larger  acreage  in  hay — this  statement  shows  an 
earning  of  over  $50  per  acre." 

"  That's  so,"  said  Bob,  "  but  the  dairy  has  earned 
a  larger  amount  than  any  of  the  rest,  for  after  deduct- 
ing all  expenses  it  shows  a  clear  profit  of  $2954." 

"  The  poultry  made  a  good  showing,  too,  I  want 
you  to  observe,"  said  Edith;  "$1373  isn't  bad  for  a 
flock  of  chickens,  I'd  have  you  know,  and  remember, 
we  were  only  making  our  start  last  year.  One  person 
could  handle  1000  hens  just  as  easily  as  500,  and  the 
profit  would  be  relatively  larger.  I'm  sure  the  poultry 
will  beat  the  dairy  this  coming  year." 

"  But  look  at  Bob's  '  Hidden  Treasure '  here," 
smiled  Joe  Williams ;  "  $400  worth  of  ice  off  that  little 
pond,  and  to  think  we  allowed  the  neighbors  to  take 
away  all  they  wanted  for  nothing  in  previous  years." 

''  Speaking  of  '  Hidden  Treasure,'  don't  forget  the 
$300  we  got  for  cord  wood  from  the  old  rail  fences, 
Uncle  Joe,"  said  Bob. 

"  They've  all  made  a  good  showing,"  said  his  aunt, 
"  and  I  think  next  year  we  can  make  the  farm  average 
$150  per  acre  or  better." 

"  It  certainly  is  a  good  report,"  said  Bob,  "  and  I 
think  we  all  should  be  very  happy  that  our  combined 
efforts  have  produced  such  fine  results." 

"  By  the  way,  Bob/'  said  his  uncle,  "  when  I  settled 
with  you  last  November,  I  paid  you  up  to  only  Novem- 
ber first,  so  here's  a  check  for  $225  for  your  wages  to 


COST  ACCOUNTING  299 

date.  I  figured  it  out  at  the  new  rate  rather  than  the 
old  one.  Hereafter,  I'll  give  you  a  check  on  the  first 
day  of  each  month." 

Bob  took  the  check  and  looked  at  it.  Then  he  dis- 
covered that  he  had  not  one  check,  but  two. 

"Why,  who  is  this  other  check  for,  Uncle  Joe?" 
he  asked,  handing  back  the  second  one. 

*'  That's  for  you,  too.  Bob." 

"  You  don't  owe  me  this  money.  Uncle  Joe,"  he 
said,  looking  at  the  check. 

"  Yes,  I  do.  Bob.  Do  you  remember  the  day  we 
let  the  water  out  of  the  pond?  " 

"  But  we  took  that  into  account  when  you  paid 
me  in  November." 

"  Oh,  no,  Bob,  I  didn't.  I  just  paid  you  for  your 
actual  work  then,  not  for  any  ideas  you  furnished.  This 
is  for  the  suggestions  you  furnished.  It  was  you  who 
suggested  the  draining  of  the  pond  and  the  selling  of 
the  sand  and  gravel — and  more  than  that,  you  saved 
me  several  thousand  dollars  by  advising  me  not  to  sell 
the  sand  pit  to  Brady  when  I  needed  a  little  money  so 
badly.  Now,  I'm  paying  you  what  I  think  is  yours 
by  right." 

"  I  couldn't  think  of  taking  any  money  from  you 
for  that  kind  of  work,  Uncle  Joe,"  persisted  Bob. 

"  Your  Aunt  Bettie,  John  White  and  I  have  talked 
it  over,  Bob,  and  we  felt  that  one-third  of  the  money 
earned  by  the  sand  pit  should  be  paid  to  you.  Our 
records  show  that  after  paying  Duncan  Wallace  and  a 


SOO  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

few  other  charges,  the  pit  has  earned  a  little  over  $9000, 
and  one-third  of  this,  or  your  share,  is  $3000,  so  you 
must  take  the  check  for  that  amount,  Bob." 

"  Why,  that  would  more  than  pay  for  the  sixty 
acres  John  White  is  holding  in  trust  for  me,"  said  Bob, 
realizing  for  the  first  time  what  so  much  money  actu- 
ally meant. 

"  Of  course,"  laughed  his  uncle,  "  that's  why  he 
bought  it.  He  and  I  talked  this  matter  over  before 
Christmas  and  we  decided  that  that  was  the  best  way 
to  arrange  it.  All  you  need  to  do  now  is  to  deposit 
this  check  and  draw  one  in  favor  of  the  First  National 
Bank  for  $1700  plus  the  interest,  and  then  you  can 
put  up  a  sign  on  the  sixty  acres  of  land  adjoining 
Brookside,  '  Robert  Williams,  Proprietor.'  I  have  a 
suggestion  to  make  to  you,  Bob,"  continued  his  uncle, 
after  they  had  discussed  the  acquiring  of  the  new  farm 
for  some  time ;  "  I  think,  now  that  the  buildings  are 
all  up,  we  could  handle  your  sixty  acres  along  with 
Brookside  for  a  year  or  two  until  you  get  ready  to 
take  the  farm  over  for  yourself,"  and  his  eyes  shifted 
from  Bob  to  Edith,  and  back  to  Bob  again,  as  he  talked. 

"  I  think  that  would  be  a  good  arrangement.  Uncle 
Joe;  we  could  use  the  land  for  pasturing,  if  we  couldn't 
plant  it  all." 

"  Let's  go  into  the  living  room,"  said  Ruth,  "  and 
have  some  music.  Have  you  seen  Aunt  Bettie's  new 
piano  yet,  Edith  ?  " 

"  No,  I  haven't,"  said  Edith. 


COST  ACCOUNTING  301 

"  Oh,  you  must  see  it,  Edith,  and  play  it,  too,"  and 
they  adjourned  to  the  Hving  room  and  gathered  around 
the  piano,  where  for  an  hour  or  more  they  gave  expres- 
sion to  their  joj^ful  feelings  in  music. 

"  I  tell  you,"  said  Joe  Williams,  as  they  sang  the 
"  Happy  Farmer  "  song,  "  there's  nothing  like  music  to 
give  anyone  vent  for  their  feelings.  I  didn't  list  the 
piano  in  our  assets,  but  I  really  think  it's  one  of  the 
best  we  have  on  the  farm,  because  it  helps  to  bring  us 
together  and  keep  us  happy." 

"  ]\Iay  I  play  the  victrola  a  while,  Aunt  Bettie?  " 
asked  Ruth. 

"  If  you  want  to,"  said  her  aunt. 

"  How  much  did  you  say  the  poultry  brought  us 
last  year?"  asked  Edith  suddenly,  as  Ruth  began 
playing. 

"  I  don't  exactly  remember,"  said  Bob,  "  but  it's  in 
the  book  in  the  office." 

"  Let's  go  and  take  a  look  at  it,"  she  said,  and  they 
left  the  others  and  adjourned  to  the  office. 

Edith  sat  down  in  the  chair  at  the  desk.  Bob 
opened  the  book  at  the  poultry  account,  and,  sitting  on 
the  arm  of  the  chair,  their  heads  close  together,  they 
began  studying  the  figures. 

"  I  think  it's  prefectly  splendid,"  said  Edith,  "  the 
showing  the  poultry  made  last  year,  and  you  know, 
Bob,  we  had  a  rather  bad  start  in  the  spring  on  account 
of  not  having  the  buildings  erected." 


302  HIDDEN  TREASURE 

"  That  was  your  good  work,  Edith,"  he  said,  let- 
ting his  arm  fall  lightly  across  her  shoulders. 

"  I  was  never  so  happy  as  last  summer  here  on  the 
farm  and  I  could  scarcely  wait  until  I  came  back  again 
this  spring,  Bob,"  she  said,  looking  up  at  him. 

Bob  was  silent  for  a  few  moments,  and  then  sud- 
denly asked : 

"  Do  you  like  the  country  well  enough,  Edith,  to 
be  willing  to  stay  here  always,  and  be  Mrs.  Robert 
Williams?" 

After  a  short  silence,  Edith  looked  at  him  shyly 
and  said : 

"  Yes,  Bob,  I  would,"  nestling  close  to  him.  "  I 
don't  know  any  place  where  I  could  be  happier  than 
here  and  I've  never  met  anyone  with  whom  I  could 
be  happier  than  with  you." 

"  I've  loved  you  ever  since  I  first  met  you,  Edith," 
he  declared,  "  and  I'm  sure  we'll  be  very  happy 
together,"  and  Bob  leaned  over  and  kissed  the  inviting 
upturned  lips. 

"  Oh !  Uncle  Joe,  just  come  here  and  see  what's 
going  on  in  your  office,"  shouted  Ruth.  "  Bob's  kiss- 
ing Edith." 

"  Have  you  been  spying  on  them,  Ruth  ?  "  remon- 
strated her  aunt. 

"  Spying  on  them.  Aunt  Bettie  ?  How  could  I  be 
spying  on  them  when  they  left  the  door  wide  open  and 
the  lights  turned  on?  I  couldn't  help  but  see  them 
when  I  looked  in.'* 


COST  ACCOUNTING  303 

At  Ruth's  interruption,  Bob  and  Edith,  had  jumped 
up  from  the  desk  and  stood  blushing  in  the  doorway- 
leading  from  the  office  to  the  living  room.  Suddenly 
Bob  took  her  hand  and  together  they  stepped  out  into 
the  room  before  the  others. 

"  Let  me  introduce  to  you  the  greatest  *  Hidden 
Treasure '  that  was  ever  found  on  Brookside  Farm,  the 
future  Mrs.  Robert  Williams." 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


000  509  837 


southern;  branch 
UNIVERS'TY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


Ib^y 


